Stefano Esposito - "Don't Give It Up" - (6:44) 116 BPM
Sune - "En Saga" - (5:01) 121 BPM
Jason Hersco - "Everytime" (Girls Of The Internet remix) - (3:41) 126 BPM
Review: Apparel Music's latest compilation series, Coffee Club, has been designed to showcase "laidback vibes and soulful grooves" of the sort that can provide the perfect accompaniment to supping on a latte, long black or double espresso. The six tracks on show on volume one undoubtedly hit this brief, with highlights including the sinewy, ultra-deep, sunrise house wooziness of Apparel Wax's '0091A', the vibraphone-laden, early St Germain-esque wonder of 'Soul Haze' by Sek, the jazzy and dubby lusciousness of Sune's 'En Saga', and Girls of the Internet's deep, dusty and chunky remix of 'Everytime' by Jason Heresco, where vintage female vocal snippets, tactile electric piano chords and a jazzy bassline all catch the ear.
Review: Inspired by mystery man Apparel Wax's childhood love of "45s", the 'MINI' series features tracks that can (and will) be released on seven-inch singles as well as digital download. To kick things off, the Italian producer has served up a pair of "summery and groovy" workouts tailor-made for outdoor DJ sets and sun-down daydreaming. Our masked hero begins with 'MINI001A', a deliciously loose-limbed slab of disco-tinged joy where sun-drenched strings, rubbery bass guitar and eyes-closed female vocal samples cluster around a bumpin' house beat, before opting for an even more soaring deep disco-house sound on the arguably superior 'MINI001B'. While it's as equally wedded to the power of house grooves, its' instrumentation is far more classy and sonically detailed.
Review: Apparel Wax reworks 'She Was Once My Woman' by Muscle Shoals Horns - a breakout project from the in-house brass section at the legendary FAME Studios in Alabama, who backed everyone from Aretha, Wilson Pickett and BB King to Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Released on the Monument label in 1983, the original was a mellow, melancholy affair made for late-night smoochin' but 40 years on Apparel Wax ups the tempo several notches and whacks a 4/4 kick underneath, making for something far better suited to dancefloor play. The male soul vocal performance is superb but naturally it's the horns that steal the show.
Review: Aparel Music has come up with a novel way to mark its 13th birthday - a series of 13-track comps, each boasting a mix of recent highlights and deep cuts, tailor-made for a handful of download and streaming sites. So, what can you expect from Junodownload's exclusive Apparel Music collection? In short, a sublime mixture of dreamy, dub-wise, slow-motion deepness (Roy Giles remixing Ahautzab), tactile and immersive deep house goodness (Eddie Shkiper, Desos), colourful fare rich in jazzy instrumentation (Four Walls' superb 'Hello Underground'), jazz-funk-flavoured nu-disco (Polar Lights) and high-grade peak-time fare (a typically dusty and warming slab of excellence from the legendary Delano Smith).
Review: For the uninitiated, 4evergreen is Apparel Music's "back catalogue" series, with each multi-artist EP sporting cuts from the Milan-based imprint's bulging archives. To kick things off, we're taken back to the birth of the hush-hush, vinyl-focused Apparel Wax series and 2017 debut offering '001A1', a jazzy, sun-splashed slice of sample-heavy deep house goodness, before we're given another chance to savour Hurlee's brilliant 2018 cut 'In The Sunshine', a sing-along slab of summery deep house warmth tailor-made for festivals and al-fresco parties. Next the Italian imprint mines Modulearth's 2015 set 'Blue Note' to rescue Moony Me's sensationally sub-heavy, sunrise-ready rework of 'Broken Memories', before rounding things off with 'For Gil and New York' by Francesco Zani - a killer 2013 peak-time house workout with jazzy flourishes that makes great use of Gil Scott-Heron samples.
Review: Apparel Music regular Apparel Wax - a shadowy man of mystery who has never revealed his identity - returns to the imprint with something special: a mixtape style release made up of his own previously unreleased, and obtusely named, tracks. You'll find the mix itself tucked away at the end of this digital version, but we'll concentrate on the tracks themselves, which take a colourful, inviting, gently jazzy and supremely sun-splashed approach to deep house. Highlights include the hands-in-the-air, disco-flecked goodness of '006A1', the '80s soul-sampling '005A2', the rainbows of sonic colour that is the peak-time ready '003B' and the tooled-up re-edit style afternoon delight that is 'LP001A1'.
Review: If you like your deep house on the jazzy and organic side, then this collection of tracks from Apparel Music that were previously only available on vinyl should be right up your alley. Opener 'LP001A1' is a looping funk jam with a rousing Ohio Players-esque chorus, 'LP001A2' is a midtempo, shuffling affair, 'LP001B1' is a lively workout with even more of a jazz bent, while 'LP001B2' blends jazz, house, funk and lounge into one glorious, shimmying concoction. 'LP001C1' is a pacier cut for the soulful house floors that bites Julie McKnight's vocal from 'Diamond Life', 'LP001D1' is a fine slice of contemporary boogie, and so it goes on...
Review: If the tongue-in-cheek press release accompanying last year's first Apparel Music release is anything to go by, Apparel Wax is a "vinyl-faced artist" who "tears dancefloors apart". There's certainly no denying the club-ready status of his or her output. For proof, check the artist's fifth release, which begins with a wonderfully celebratory chunk of breezy, sunshine-ready disco which has been slightly pitched up up satisfy the demands of house-loving dancefloors. "005A2" sees our vinyl-faced hero make merry with a chiming chunk of '80s soul rich in slap bass and sweeping strings, while "005B1" is a bouncy, piano-heavy workout crafted from bits of another '80s workout. Closing cut "005B2", on the other hand, is a fairly "straight" edit rich in sweaty drums, jammed-out electric piano solos and bustling bass guitar.
Review: We last heard from Apparel Wax back in January, when the man (or woman) of mystery unleashed a second scorching EP of high-grade deep house on Apparel Music. For EP number three, the Son of Sleeveface takes a different tack. The untitled opener, for example, is a layered, floor-friendly, jazz dance-friendly sample collage full of vintage funk drum breaks, swinging percussion solos, fluid jazz piano solos and less than subtle nods towards hip-house. While a little messy, it's undeniably enormous fun. Track 2 sees old wax-chops beef up and slightly weird out a jaunty, horn-heavy Afro-funk cut, while the track 3 excursion is a romping deep house revision of a swirling and chiming '80s soul hit.
Review: Apparel Music Introduces the second chapter of their new series, by the Milan based artist 'who tears the dancefloor apart. ' APLWAX002 features groovy beats, catchy melodies and vibrant harmonies that come together to create a solid four track release with soul: the soul of the music they love to dance to. The whole EP moves together in an organic way, from the very first track "002A1" which is a slo-mo and definitely lo-slung late night joint. Then the dusty, late night Rhodes led deepness of "002A2" until the last one "002B2" which is infectious loopy downbeat business in the vein of Moodymann's "Mahogany Brown" era. It all creates an impactful musical story and everyone should be aware that the unknown mystery man is back in town!
Review: When it was first released on vinyl earlier this month, Apparel Wax's mysterious debut single was packaged with a cut-out-and-keep kit to create your own "Apparel Wax Goggles". Sadly, there's naturally no such freebie bundled with this digital edition, so you'll have to make do with the unknown producer's brilliant music instead. Highlights come thick and fast, from the hazy, soul-flecked, gospel-propelled disco-house warmth of opener "001A1" and sample-heavy jazz-house positivity of "001A2", to the swirling orchestral samples and bustling peak-time beats of "001B1", which niftily re-casts an easy listening disco cut as a spiraling dancefloor anthem. The looser and more languid "001B2" completes a tasty package.
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