Review: Three tracks from as many artists make up this first salvo in Frank Music's 10th birthday celebrations. Amount gets the ball rolling with 'Dphrase', which opens with simple 4/4s, goes all fluttery and wispy and then bursts out into a synth-y, Euro-sounding instrumental sitting right at the point where house, prog and disco collide. The Captain Of Your Heart's 'Love' then takes us into dreamy 80s pop territory before the EP's completed by Levitation Venue's 'Everything's Good', the standout for yours truly and a laidback lil' groover in which gently meandering ivories meet some impressively understated acid.
Review: There's a great meeting of musical minds here, as Berlin DJ Amount hooks up with Schlepp Geist, best known for his work on Katermukke. The title track is based on a searing bass and raw percussive elements as a dramatic falsetto plays out over the arrangement. "Bay of Joy" sees Schlepp Geist raise the tempo, but the same sense of musicality is present. Coupled with bass tones that contain an epic feeling and vocodered vocals, it makes for an understated but still epic affair. The release also features dub versions of both tracks: with the vocals absent from the dub take on the title track and "Bay of Joy" reduced to a more dance floor friendly take, there really is something for everyone on this release.
Review: The fifth volume in Running Back's ongoing multi-artist EP series, 'One Swallow Doesn't Make a Summer', is certainly action-packed. It features five tracks from a mix of label regulars and talented newcomers. Michael Davidson dons the Moritz alias for the EP-opening neo Italo-disco shimmer of mid-tempo gem 'Flying Saucer', before debutant Amount peppers a druggy, tribal-tinged cosmic groove with weirdo chords and Jew's Harp sounds. Elsewhere, Storken and JStraaf join forces for the moody, percussively intricate minimal house haziness of 'Tunghugg', Archie Ward goes deep into sparse, post-electro territory on 'Pizza Girl' and Jonus Eric submerges us in a bath of loved-up pads, gentle acid-lines and ultra-deep house grooves on standout 'Fairlight'.
Review: Germany's Voltaire Music return with some heavy hitters in techno, tech house, deepness and beyond. While it's mainly a Deutsche affair for the most part, they even managed to rope in Croatian hypnotic techno veteran Petar Dundov - who in conjunction with Systematic's Marc Romboy delivers the spiralling and melodic sorcery of "Caper Tran". Elsewhere, there's some epic dancefloor drama like on Tim Engelhardt's remix of "Florian Kruse & Hendrik Burkhard's "Crack In The Wall" featuring some heartfelt vocals by Mi.li.an. Highly lauded mastering engineer Hannes Bieger delivers the moody and entrancing "Strato" geared for those heads down moments under the strobelight and Frankfurt's finest Sascha Dive - he of Deep Vibes fame - delivers the goods as always on the darkroom dub of "Renegade" (Long version).
Schulze Boysen (Kuriose Naturale remix) - (7:32) 120 BPM
Graudancer - (7:37) 124 BPM
KarmaKream - (7:14) 121 BPM
Goldene Melange - (6:26) 115 BPM
Review: Minimal grooves from the melodic/progressive end of the spectrum are the order of the day on this latest EP from Germany's URSL label, which features five originals from Berlin producer Amount plus a remix of 'Schulze Boysen' by Kuriose Naturale. 'Marshmallow' itself is an unhurried affair with a pulsating synth lead taking centre-stage, 'Graudancer' is bassier, 'KarmaCream' is atmospheric and cinematic and 'Goldene Melange' veers towards full-blown prog territory, but these are fairly minor differences and generally speaking, if you're a fan of twisting, evolving synth-scapes you'll find much to enjoy here.
Review: Many happy returns to Silicone Soul's Darkroom Dubs label, which has now notched up two decades releasing music. To celebrate, they've put together this anniversary collection full to bursting not with classic cuts, but rather new and unheard music for those who like their dancefloor music dark and twisted. Fittingly, Silicone Soul kick things off with the chunky, squelchy bass-propelled early morning hedonism of 'Fahrenheit 625 (WRC Remix)', while low-slung, locked-in throb-jobs are provided by Theus Mago ('Intensify'), Undo (the acid-fired trip that is 'Vencejos') and Subcisco (the trippy, sub-heavy and wide-eyed 'Boiling Point'). There are quite a few tasty musical curveballs too, not least the Chicken Lips-on-acid flex of 'Lucky Luciano' by Am$trad Millionaire and the woozy electro-meets-EBM haziness of 'Always Almost' by Of Norway.
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