Back Catalogue

Review: Amazingly, it's 15 years since Isolee first tickled our fancy with the deliciously hypnotic and pleasingly melodic micro-house anthem "Beau Mot Plage". He's tried many things in the years since, from stripped-back minimalism to semi-organic loop techno. "Allowance" his first full solo EP for nearly three years, has echoes of his glory days. The darting, fluid "Wobble", for example, employs similar synth stabs of shuffling grooves, while "You Could Do Your Memories" is as heart aching and emotion-rich as any of his Playhouse-era classics. Best of all, though, is "Allowance", a sparse but beautifully appointed slice of deep-tronica underpinned by a loose but sturdy groove.

Review: It's clear that Australian Inkswel is of the electro-boogie persuasion and here's three tracks to prove it. "Do It" is catchy and crisp with lovely mid 80s synthpop vibes, "Tu Machito" is pure old skool electro and "LFO Bounce" is a fantastic b-boy drum box workout. Funkineven beefs up the latter hissy percussion and more melodies than you can shake a synth at.

Review: Following sturdy releases with the likes of Presk and Tessela, Audio Culture make a more decisive move into the realms of house music with this bumpy jam from Iron Galaxy; a production moniker with little to no reference points. "Attention Seeker" hits upon a hooky lead synth that bounces and warps around the garage shuffle of the beat while an aqueous pad cools off those heated elements for a fully balanced listening experience. It's functional where it counts, but the heart and soul of the track ensures it'll strike deeper than a one-dimensional rhythm track.

Review: The new I:Cube album is a rapid-fire collection of tracks woven together (there's a clue in that title you know) which takes the manner of a live set. The idea is essentially to bring the dance music album back to its raison d'etre, the dancefloor. To keep things interesting, the tracks are whipped through with a wonderful irreverence, as cheeky radio interludes and impulsive switch-ups keep things from staying too formulaic. Rather than some vision of a smooth, linear DJ set, this album instead takes the stance of creating pleasure through disorientation. Mr Chaix is a master of alluring grooves, and he uses that gift to really mess with your head when he changes tack, as between the edgy bleeps of "Y.O.U.R.O.C.K." and the light-hearted disco stomper "Get The Fever". Those surprise moves keep you engaged through all 23 tracks of this joyous beast. Chaix's lack of pretension is one of his greatest strengths; the I:Cube way is a direct and satisfying one. At no point is it cheesy or hackneyed, but it never tries to be too clever for its own good. With a live feel to match that immediacy, the "M" Megamix is a triumphant statement of what a dance music album should feel like. It might not be a comprehensive answer, but it certainly puts paid to all those "collection of singles" efforts out there.

Review: British imprint Third Ear drop this ace EP of "re-imagined" classics from the label's back catalogue. The headline track here is Rabih Beaini's Upperground Orchestra remix of Theo Parrish's "Falling Up" - the cosmic jazz outfit have remade the classic from the ground up, recording a new version live in Italy earlier this summer. "Falling Up" of course has already been on the receiving end of one of the most revered remixes of the past decade from Carl Craig and is quite the dusty, quantize shy delight in original form too. The Orchestra's contribution to Third Ear Re-Imagined follows the recent release of The Eupen Takes, a six track live album released on Beaini's own Morphine Records. The producers involved in this project were given the opportunity to select their favourite tracks from the Third Ear catalogue to remix; Red Rack'em chose one of his all time favourites in Ibex's 2008 beatdown cut "Spiritual War", while XBD has taken on Benjamin Brunn's kick drum shy "No Kicks". Dummy and left_blank producer Lorca - who remixed Recast's "Consensual" for Third Ear in 2011 - decided to remix Pirahnahead's underrated "Self Conscience". Class all round.

Review: Part of the Hoya Hoya collective along with Lone and Krystal Kleer, as well as gracing the likes of Brownswood, 3024 and Tectonic in his short career, Illum Sphere has made a name for himself with his individual brand of music that runs the gamut between garage, funk, and smudged out techno. This new single for the esteemed Young Turks should ensure his status continues to ascend; opening with an atmospheric intro that calls to mind the textured electronics of Young Echo member Vessel, "Birthday" soon gives way to a combination of warped vocal samples, decayed house strings and elastic bass, while the brilliantly named "H808er" is a brilliant piece of dark arpeggiated techno which switches from its unfiltered rasp into a melodic piece of melancholic pastoral electronica.

Review: After releasing his debut full-length on Bear Funk earlier this year, Croatian synth-disco specialist Ilija Rudman returns to ISM with two of his most interesting productions to date. "Crazy With You" - available in original, dub and lively Yam Who remix flavours - is arguably Rudman's most polished production yet, coming on like classic NYC boogie stripped back to its bare bones (think slap bass, Fairlight stabs, cowbells and a great vocal). "Let This Dream Be Real" continues on the same path, this time pushing a mid-80s soul vibe. It's similarly well produced and comes backed with a delicious nu-disco meets vaguely Balearic deep house remix from Disco Dirtbox.

Review: Having come to the fore with a quite superb outing on Speculator's WT imprint last year, Alex Israel adds another respected label to his discography with the Front Butt EP on Creme Organization. Described by the label as Chicago's own overlord of deranged deep house, Israel comes good on this with four tracks that align perfectly with the Creme Org aesthetic. Misty analogue textures sway rhythmically around the relative calm of opening track "Mongo Raw" which don't really prepare you for the outright jam that follows. "Habituation Micturation" is one of those effortlessly effervescent Motor City productions, raw and dusty and driven by the kind of uplifting melodic touches that tease your feet into action. It also features Detroit secret weapon Kevin Reynolds on speakerboxx duties revealing the frustrations of living in his neighbourhood, specifically some crack head relieving himself on Reynolds' garden fence. The title track adds a certain pensive mood to proceedings, as downtrodden melodic elements duke it out with the relentless jackhammer sounds of percussion before a delightful left turn into freeform ivory tinkling. Those craving some swampy organ sounds will be sated by the closing smudged jacker "White Monkey Holding Peach".

Review: Having released well received EPs on Tensnake's Mirau label and Mule Electronic in recent few years, as well as numerous others, Iron Curtis here finds himself on Kolour Recordings for this similarly fantastic EP. "Goma" is a warm piece of deep house that utilises a curious pitched down vocal sample which is particularly dark in its execution, whilst "You" is a slow moving piece of foggy disco, with a bassline so low it's almost melodically imperceptible, whilst synth chords undulate beneath the surface. The San Soda remix of "Goma" lightens the mood by sharpening up the percussion and adding some rippling keys, whilst the Mano Le Tough remix of "You" removes the haze and adds some virtuoso piano over the original's deep groove.