Review: Man-of-the-moment Felipe Gordon was little more than a Columbian producer with promise when he first appeared on Razor N Tape Reserve back in 2019. Since then, he's chalked up impressive, jazz-funk influenced deep house releases for all manner of high-profile labels including Heist, Local Talk and Shall Not Fade. This belated return to Razor N Tape is great, too. Opener 'Strings of the Afterline' is pleasingly hazy and dreamy whilst boasting Gordon's usual synth-heavy squelch, while 'The Fall of a Withered Empire' is a rare vocal number with a deep jazz-house feel. Elsewhere, 'Classico' is a bouncy, classic-sounding deep house bounce-along rich in sparkling synth riffs, while 'Julia Y Lewis' is a more languid and laidback chunk of jazz-sampling, funk-fuelled deep house haziness.
Review: Shall Not Fade rounds off its busiest year to date with a sixth anniversary compilation that's packed to the rafters with previously unreleased tracks from its now sizable family of artists. Also reflective of the sounds showcased by Shall Not Fade's various sub-labels and offshoots, the 24-track set confidently strides between deep two-step (Black Loops), saucer-eyed ambient jungle (Kessler), colourful deep house (Lis Sarocca), lo-fi jack tracks (Cinthie), loopy disco-house (Adelphi Music Factory), jazz-funk flavoured house warmth (Felipe Gordon), analogue-rich broken beat (Yosh), post-UKG heaviness (DJ Crisps), jaunty and jazzy 4/4 garage (DJ Swagger) and the kind of smile-inducing, huggable dancefloor goodness that defies simple categorization (Tilman and Phonk D).
Review: Man of the moment Felipe Gordon is in a rich vein of form right now, which each new week bringing a fresh batch of tracks or remixes. He's in the latter mode on Reworks, Volume 3, the latest volume in his ongoing series for Local Talk. He heads for 4AM heads-down territory on his fine revision of Marcel Vogel AKA EmVee's 'Brotherman Part 1', adding hazy, hypnotic riffs, sampled blues vocals and dazzling early morning synth stabs to a bass-heavy deep house beat. He channels the Colombian sunshine on track two, a colourful, retro-futurist house re-make of Corrado Bucci's 'No One Can Stop Us' that's full to bursting with bright piano riffs, tactile synth bass and sweaty, swinging drums.
Review: Felipe Gordon could be the hardest-working producer in deep house right now. We're not complaining though, because over the last 18 months he's delivered a string of formidable, musically rich releases. Predictably, there's plenty to set the pulse racing on his first Heist Recordings outing too, from the vintage St Germain-inspired jazz-house beauty of opener 'Highly Smooth Tone (featuring Julio Rigal and Equilibrium)', to the squelchy, percussive and intoxicating Latin house vibes of closing cut 'Highly Rhythmic Pace'. Sandwiched in between you'll find two more reasons to be cheerful: the Italian dream house-with-added-jazz flex of saucer-eyed treat 'Highly Deep & Conductive', and the jacking, mind-mangling insanity of 'Highly Corrosive Acid'.
Review: Having kick-started his new remix series with inspired re-rubs of tracks by Kyodai and Fish Go Deep, man of the moment Felipe Gordon has now turned his attention to cuts from Crazkazat and Merrick. His revision of the former's 'Silent Sling' is undeniably inspired, with heady Latin percussion, jazzy keys and Motor City techno chords rising above rolling house beats and a heavy, mind-altering bassline. It's basically Latin deep house re-imagined for the 21st century, and that's no bad thing. There's more of a swinging, loose-limbed feel to his version of Merrick's 'The Scene', which the Colombian producer re-imagines as a bumpin', stab-happy affair full of raw analogue bass, dreamy pads and electronic jazz-funk flourishes.
Review: Not content with delivering some of the most inspired original productions of the year (see his EPs on Shall Not Fade for starters), jazz-funk loving deep house star Felipe Gordon has now decided to showcase his talents as a remixer. He begins his first Reworks EP for Local Talk by taking on Kyodai's 'Breaking', delivering a fine revision that adds rubbery bass guitar, tight organ stabs, short vocal snippets and waves of delay-laden jazz piano solos to a rolling deep house groove. Gordon veers deeper into jazz-house territory on the accompanying remix of Fish Go Deep's 'Off Script', making the most of snaking clarinet and sax lines, sparkling synth stabs and a quality broken house beat. In a word: superb.
Review: Is there a more on-form deep house producer around than Felipe Gordon? If there is, we've not come across them. The Colombian can do no wrong right now and his latest EP for Shall Not Fade is another must-check affair. He goes in hard to begin with, peppering a retro-futurist Chicago house groove with heady piano riffs and tactile chords on 'Analog Only', before cannily combining jazz-funk bass, Herbie Hancock synths and sturdy deep house beats on 'Continuous Develop'. Fans of jazz-house will love the vintage St Germain vibes - albeit with a touch of squelchy synth-bass - of 'Keepin' It Jazz' and the more becalmed 'Looking Your Reflection on the Water'. Closing cut 'What You Say', a simply sumptuous chunk of warming, heavy-eyed deep house headiness, is also excellent.
Review: Last year, London DJ crew and party promotion outfit SlothBoogie delivered one of the compilations of the year, a wonderfully eclectic and on-point set entitled Dancing With Friends. According to the crew, they spent even more time carefully curating this welcome sequel. You can tell, too. Kicking off with the tactile, slow-burn deep house yearning of Soul Won's '96 to Albert Park', the 21-track collection ambles, strides and jogs between soul-flecked deep house (see Kemback's brilliant 'I Know What You're Thinking'), driving nu-disco (Jesse Bru), swirling deep jackers (Erik Ellmann's 'Private Talk'), loopy disc-house haziness (the always excellent Felipe Gordon), jazz-flecked acid squelch-alongs (Pablot), deep space sample house (Sam Irl) and high-octane, peak-time insanity (The Revenge). Simply brilliant.
Review: There's no denying that Felipe Gordon is one of the most in-form producers in deep house right now, with each successive release from the Colombian seemingly being even greater than the last. He's continued this rich vein of form on A Landscape Onomatopeya, his first full-length for current home Shall Not Fade. The set is naturally rooted in his jazz-funk flavoured brand of deep house, where post-boogie synth sounds, warm electric piano chords and soft-touch jazz guitar solos rise above wonderfully huggable dancefloor beats. There are plenty of ear-pleasing deviations scattered across the album though, from the Azymuth-goes-house brilliance of 'The Colombian Excursions of House Music' and the head-nodding downtempo haziness of 'Wez', to the rare groove style dustiness of 'Howl' and Guru style jazzy hip-hop beats of 'Wake Up'.
Review: Man-of-the-moment Felipe Gordon returns to the Razor 'N' Tape camp with a fresh selection of sample-heavy house cuts following a collaborative re-edit outing on the imprint alongside pal Vagabundo Club Social in 2019. He hits the ground running with blissful and tactile opener 'Those Quiet Eyes of Yours', where effortlessly jazzy and laidback guitar licks and woozy synth sounds ride a squeezable TB-303 bassline and dusty deep house drums. The acid bass remains on the more boisterous and bustling 'There's a Part of Me That's Always True', while 'Now That You Caught My Heart This Evening' makes great use of jazzy electric piano flourishes, sampled orchestration and eyes-closed, samba style vocal snippets. More warming, glassy-eyed fun can be found on toasty deep house closing cut 'That Night at El Bukowski', where twinkling motifs, jazz-funk and bubbly electronics catch the ear.
Review: As the title suggests, this dazzling EP is a trans-Atlantic collaboration between two genuine rising stars of house music: Colombian Felipe Gordon, and London's Cody Currie. Musically, the overriding theme of the EP is loose-limbed jazziness and the warming colour of jazz-funk, with the pair setting the tone via the ultra-deep broken beat vibes of 'Better Days' and the sparkling deep house/jazz-funk fusion of Ally McMahon hook-up 'Cold Nights'. 'Late Nights' is a cheery piano-house number laden with spacey synthesizer flourishes, while 'Our Love' is smooth and soulful deep house at its very best. The EP also includes a solo track from each, with Gordon's languid vocal deep house number 'I'm On Fire' being followed by Currie's bumpin' and bass-heavy 'No Future'. In a word: essential.
Review: While it may have been designed to reflect the evolving nature of the label's sound over the last half-decade, Shall Not Fade's fifth anniversary compilation is nevertheless packed to the rafters with previously unheard treats. It begins with a techno-tempo blast of garage-influenced deep house warmth from DJOKO and ends with the dark, squelching and ghostly bounce of Dart's 'Transformations'; in between, you'll find 19 more reasons to be cheerful with plenty of serious dancefloor chops. Undisputed highlights include the crunchy, head-nodding pleasure of GVRL's instrumental hip-hop jam 'Love Game', the angular and acid spiked tech-breaks of Harrison BDP's 'The Powerful Play', the drowsy deep house dreaminess of Mutual Attraction's 'MPC Live Track 1' and the rushing rave revivalism of Baltra's killer re-fix of Earth Boys' 'I'm Not Afraid'.
Review: Bristol-based Shall Not Fade has recently made some shrewd signings, not least rising stars Earth Boys. They've also secured the services of another producer getting plenty of props, Colombian Felipe Gordon. The Bacate Exploration, his first EP for the West Country outlet, is predictably impressive. It sees him bounce between rubbery, Jazz-funk influenced disco/deep house fusion (the heady and addictive title track), acid-fired deep house jazziness (the slick and warming 'Deep (For You)'), classic-sounding US deep house warmth ('(To) Get My Shit Together'), bustling dancefloor funkiness ('The Five Ohh Seeex') and colourful, life-affirming house headiness ('Manzanero's Despair') - all while wielding his trusty bass guitar and some suitably vintage synths.
Review: We're firmly of the opinion that Felipe Gordon is one of the breakout stars of 2020, thanks in no small part to a succession of must-check releases for such labels as Toy Tonics, Lost Palms and Local Talk. He's certainly the star attraction on this joint EP on Off Track Recordings, first dazzling with the chunky, warming and jazzy solo deep house cut 'We All Got The Time', before collaborating with fellow rising star Will Buck on the similarly Rhodes-laden peak-time workout 'Back Into Time'. Buck delivers two fine solo outings of his own, too: the sparkling jazz-funk-goes-classic house bump of 'I Think It's Too Late' and the riotously good angular acid-funk of 'I'll Be Right There'.
Review: To celebrate notching up ten years in the game, London blog and party-turned-record label SlothBoogie has decided to offer-up their most ambitious release to date: an epic collection of previously unheard cuts from a mixture of imprint regulars and like-minded friends. There's naturally plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, with highlights including the sparkling jazz-funk-meets-deep house sunshine of Levan's "U R Beautiful In The Face", the deep, breakbeat-driven dreaminess of Philippa's "That's What I Mean By Free", the piano solo-heavy disco-house bump of Leatherette's "Your Love", and the dub disco-meets-acid house heaviness of "Rewind Run" by Pablot. Throw in similarly impressive contributions from Kassian, Luvless, Casino Times and Soul Wun (the classic jazz-house of "Thank You, St Germain") and you have a must-have collection.
Review: Colombian producer Felipe Gordon's profile has risen considerably over the last 18 months, with rock solid releases on Quintessentials, Toy Tonics, Razor 'N' Tape Reserve and Exploited Ghetto only enhancing his credentials. Now some of his tracks have been snaffled up by another highly regarded imprint, the bastion of quality house that is Local Talk. Title track "For A Bright & Acid Future" hits the spot from the word go, with Gordon wrapping twisted, rough-neck acid lines around a bustling backing track rich in fuzzy synth stabs, jazzy bass guitar and crunchy beats. Kear lends a hand on the sun-kissed, soft focus brilliance of jazz-funk/Jazz/deep Latin house fusion of "Son Esquivias", before Gordon goes solo via the woozy, summery and squelchy deep house lusciousness of "icking Fuzzed Personality".
Review: Colombia's Felipe Gordon may be a relative newcomer to the scene, but on this superb five-tracker he evidences both a strong understanding/appreciation of dance music history and a remarkable degree of versatility in the studio. 'The Jupiter Song' is a garage-y affair built around stuttering Rhodes chords, 'Hey! Keep Going' takes us into acidic deep house territory and is one for locked-on 3am floors, 'Acid Horizontal Polka' is a proper 303 workout lightened by more garage-y keys, 'Snake Jazz' is a meandering, jazzual, sax-sprinkled drifter par excellence, and then finally 'Keep Us Separated' finds us back on more soulful ground.
Review: Since last appearing on Toy Tonics two years ago, Felipe Gordon's profile has risen considerably, thanks in no small part to well received outings on Black Jukebox, Quintessentials and Razor 'N' Tape Reserve. His return to the popular imprint is of course a successful one, with each of the four tracks proving particularly alluring. He begins with the drowsy, blues-sampling cut-up deep house bump of "Wait On Me", before reaching for the crunchy disco drums, cowbells and funky bass guitar on the Holy Ghost-goes-house vibes of "El Meloncito". Elsewhere, "The Semimodular Bird of Jazz" is a fine bit of dusty deep house/jazz-house fusion, while "Definitely and Completely Mayor" is a slightly off-kilter dancefloor work out rich in poignant pianos and quirkily swung drums.
Girl U Don't Know How Beautiful U Actually Are - (7:21) 118 BPM
The Quint Garage - (5:48) 122 BPM
For Those Who Enjoy Being Alone - (5:01) 115 BPM
Review: Since making his first appearance on Quintessentials last year, Felipe Gordon has released even more impressive EPs on Toy Tonics, Exploited Ghetto and Razor 'N' Tape. The Colombian producer is naturally in tip-top form on this return to the long-running German label. He hits the ground running with "Sick Ass Chords", a fine fusion of loose-limbed, jazz-tinged deep house beats, hazy chords, dusty old samples and toasty bass, before getting deeper, woozier and even sweeter on the lolloping goodness of "Girl U Don't Know How Beautiful You Actually Are". "The Quint Garage" is a hazy slab of peak-time deep house warmth, while closing cut "For Those Who Enjoy Being Alone" sees Gordon pepper a shuffling jazz-house groove with sampled piano solos, drowsy electronics and jaunty electronic bass.
Review: A fine four-track V/A sampler here from Sleazy McQueen's Lovedancing label. Felipe Gordon and Vagabundo Social Club's 'Basilio' opens proceedings on a deep Afro-tip, pairing garage-y organs with tribal beats, chants and a spoken vocal about colonialism, before Eddie's Stomp Mix gives the track a shot of dancefloor energy, complete with space disco stabs, jazz-funk synths and a new "I got it!" vocal. Sleazy & VSC's 'Chips Y Salsoul' is 70s barrio funk given a 21st Century house makeover, and then finally 'Be There' sits right on the deep house/nu-disco cusp with its soaring strings and vaguely Latin-sounding backbeat.
Review: By now, we should all know what to expect from Toolroom's "Poolside Ibiza" compilation strand, namely groovy nu-disco, house and laidback Balearic beats inspired by afternoons spent lounging by the water in stonking White Isle heat. Naturally, there are plenty of gems to be found amongst the 40 unmixed tunes selected by chosen DJs Moullinex and Xinobi, from their own collaborative post-punk/dub number "X Marks The Spot", to the slick '80s synth-pop dreaminess of Tensnake's fine remix of Xinobi's "Far Away Place" and the drowsy, Morricone-influenced soundscape weirdness of Simple Symmetry's remix of Moscoman's "I Ran". Throw in some seriously good cuts from Felipe Gordon, Donald Dust, Pin Up Club and Meera (whose carnival-ready boogie jam "Fine Without You" stands out), and you have a fine collection of summery cuts.
Review: Fresh from fine recent outings on Lovedancing and Quintessentials, rising star Felipe Gordon releases his first EP on Toy Tonics, a label he's been loosely affiliated with since contributing a track to a compilation style EP last year. The centrepiece of the EP is clearly "Acid Party at Teusaquillo", a cut that cleverly combines classic deep house elements (woozy chords, spine-tingling pianos) with the jacking rhythms and mind-altering acid lines of early Chicago house. While the track arguably didn't need remixing, we're rather enjoying the deeper, jazzier interpretation from Retrogott and DJ Qualle, not to mention the enveloping warmth of Seb Wildblood's Detroit Techno-meets-deep house rework.
Review: Colombian producer Felipe Gordon rarely fails to impress, as anyone who's checked his releases on Nomada, W&O Street Tracks, Nein and Toy Tonics will attest. It's perhaps not surprising, then, that this outing on Quintessentials is pretty darn tasty, too. It sees him confidently flitting between skewed, sample-rich, jazz-fuelled deepness (see Andres style opener "Su Casa, Mi Casa" and admirably wonky closer "Gangster Fass", which includes some mind-altering vari-speed flourishes) and more forthright cuts. Of these, it's the stripped-back, hip-house boompty of "Arpeggios Extendedos" that most impresses, though the Floating Points-meets-Red Rack'em vibe of "Ella VA" is also alluring.
