Review: The second volume in Toy Tonics' occasional Jockey Jams series is something of a gift to DJs. Although naturally rooted in deep house, each of the showcased tracks offers something distinctively different. So, while Felipe Gordon's "Rinogal" is an funk-fuelled house bumper built around an elastic, acid-fired synth bassline and trippy late night effects, Metropolitan Soul Museum's "Saab" is a delicate, warm-up friendly fusion of lilting synths, bubbly electronics and the kind of twinkling pianos frequently found on vintage Italian dream house records. The eclecticism continues elsewhere, too, from the Adonis-via-Rimini thrills of Jacky Mingo's wonderfully positive "Brothers Cup", to the jazzy warmth of Black Loops and analogue house bleeps of Jad's "Overpriced Kaiser Chips".
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: 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: 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: 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: 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.
Review: We've come accustomed to Nein Records delivering a constant stream of psychedelic chuggers that sit somewhere between kosmische, nu-dicso and pitched-down acid. Intriguingly, this rare solo outing from Mercury member Felipe Gordon begins with a chunk of undulating, up-tempo deep house/tech-house fusion, and the EP just gets more intense from there. The metallic "Revolution" is particularly potent, with Gordon dragging the throbbing Munich disco sound of Giorgio Moroder through a collapsing munitions factory. "Nintechno" is a distorted, 8-bit dancefloor thumper, while Losbikini turns opener "El Caracas" into wobbly nu-disco chugger.
Review: Another set of Waze & Odyssey's always reliable Street Tracks served up again on their Autumn Sampler. On offer here is Colombian producer Felipe Gordon's deep and bouncy "Rola Frita", Liverpool's Deep Space Orchestra with the hi-tech soul of "Quarterly Report" which follows in the tradition of local legends Stephen Brown or Vince Watson then My Cat Snoop: otherwise known as Brighton's Gregg Ashley, who throws down the tough and gutsy techno stomp of "Ghetto Child" that sounds like a Hot Creations track on steroids. London's Mella Dee closes out the compilation with the early '90's techno zeitgeist of "Franco" complete with a gnarly Reese bassline for good measure.
Deep Space Orchestra - "Quartley Report" - (6:19) 126 BPM
My Cat Snoop - "Ghetto Child" - (6:28) 124 BPM
Mella Dee - "Franco" - (5:31) 128 BPM
Review: As temperatures in the UK begin to plummet quicker than the leaves falling off the trees, W&O Street Tracks serves up something to warm even the chilliest of dancefloors. Their Autumn Sampler is an all-star affair, featuring four fresh cuts from friends and family. Felippe Gordon impresses with the cut-up, broken house strut of "Rola Frita" - all Syclops style wonky bass and sharply edited vocal samples - before Deep Space Orchestra deliver the thrusting, intergalactic house hustle of "Quarterly Report". Those looking for bombastic weightiness should check the boompty-influenced bounce of My Cat Snoop's "Ghetto Child", while Mella D's "Franco" fixes spacey synthesizer motifs to a surging, floor-friendly drum rhythm.
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: 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: 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: Local Talk's packed release schedule means that keeping up with the label's releases can be tough. Happily, founders Mad Mats and Tooli found a solution long ago: the best-of style Talking House compilation series, which here notches up its 11th instalment. Packed to the rafters with high-quality deep, dusty, jazzy and soul-fired house, the collection's highlights are plentiful. Our picks include the hazy gospel-house hustle of Soulphiction's 'Niederbeat Gospel Dub', the jazzy Afro-house warmth of 'One Less (Main Send)' by Urban Sound Lab presents Miss Yankey, the extra-percussive, organic deep house positivity of Vick Lavender's spacey 'Shifting Gears', the bruk-up breeze that is Anthony Nicholson and Mark De Clive-Lowe's 'Another Story', and the sunset-ready, bossa-house breeze of Shaka's'New Relationship'.
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: 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: Some 12 months after we offered lavish praise for its predecessor, volume five in Shir Khan's "Exploited Ghetto Trax" compilation series arrives. As usual, he's selected some absolute bombs from the Exploited catalogue, enthusiastically sprinting between the drowsy deep house warmth of Kotelekk and Zadak's "The Big Feeling", the jazzy peak-time breakbeats of Enduro Disco, the heart-warming disco-house rush of Art LeRock's "When", the late night deep-tech hypnotism of Marcus Meinhardt's Innervisions-esque "House of Beats (Dub)" and the snappy early morning heaviness of Anti-Anti's warehouse-ready "Heat". There are naturally plenty more highlights elsewhere across the set, but for space reasons we can't champion them all. In a word: essential.
Review: It would be fair to say that Toy Tonics releases a lot of "Top Tracks", making this seventh digital-only label sampler a must-have for those who enjoy the twin delights of heartwarming deep house and celebratory contemporary disco. Some of the label's biggest dancefloor hits of recent times naturally make an appearance - see Ray Mang's fabulous remix of Phenomenal Handclap Band's "Judge Not", Pontchartrain's cheery and chiming remix of Felipe Gordon's "Tell Me Something True", Los Amigos Invisibles and Dimitri From Paris's cover of Chaz Jankel classic "Glad To Know You" and COEO's brilliant "Japanese Woman" - alongside some gems that may have passed you by. These include the impeccable deep house of FYI Chris's "Encounters", two brilliant contributions from Kapote and Mangabey's drowsy disco-house number "Just Luv Machine".
Review: Just in case you've forgotten Nomada Records - it has been 18 months since their last release, after all - the Bogata-based imprint has offered up this compilation style reminder of the label's established deep house charms. It's a very impressive - not to mention eclectic - return to action, all told, with highlights including the chopped-and-screwed deep house bump of Jonahlo's "Crudo", the wonky and blazed warmth of 4004's "Part 1, Part 2 and More" (think Rhythm Section International, and you're close) and the hybrid Italo-disco/disco-house/jazz-funk heaviness of Nico Saav's "Can't Do My Thing". We'd also recommend listening to the mid-tempo hip-house brilliance of Felipe Gordon's opener, and the heady, roll-another-fat-one blunted beats of Lucien Magual's "Lluvia".
