Review: Here's something of a surprise: a first single in six years from former Local Talk artist and man/woman of mystery Black Fan. First up we get to check out the artist's remixing skills, as he (or she) offers up a brand-new interpretation of Greymatter's 2011 jam 'Tesla', a mighty slab of sweaty, warehouse-ready euphoria that first appeared on a compilation style Wolf Music EP. As the mix title suggests, Black Fan has drawn enormous influence from the muscular, dark room-ready Sound Factory-era sound of Junior Vasquez, peppering a tough, driving groove with echoing synth riffs and Greymatter's glassy-eyed female vocal samples. In contrast 'Cuttlefish', an original Black Fan track, is a sparkling and colourful slab of electronica that sits somewhere between electro, deep house and IDM.
Review: If a week is a long time in politics, then a decade is the equivalent of a lifetime in dance music terms. It's for this reason that so many labels are keen to mark their tenth birthday with a special release, just as Wolf Music - one of the UK's most reliable deep house imprints of recent times - has done here. Instead of opting for all new material, the imprint has decided to gather together some of their favourite "Wolf slammers" - cuts that have always done the business on the dancefloor. There's naturally plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the loopy R&B/disco/deep house fusion of Fantastic Man's "Look This Way" and the fabulously analogue Chicago retro-futurism of KRL's "Nothing You Can Teach Me", to the sample-heavy, riff-happy bounce of Red Rack'em's "Do Or Die" and the bass-heavy stomp of K98's warehouse-ready revision of Thrilogy's "Heaven".
Review: If grown-up deep house with oodles of dancefloor grunt is your thing, there's a fair chance that you already own a fair few EPs by Graham Luckhurst AKA Greymatter. His latest outing for Quintessentials naturally ticks similar boxes, even if it does open with two deliciously pitched-down workouts. "Sans Rouge" sounds like a jazz-flecked fusion of The Revenge's slow house jams and the cut-up sample-house antics of S3A, while "Royale" is a loopy, sharply edited head-nodder built around samples from a dewy-eyed disco-soul number. Peak-time thrills arrive via the thumping beats and heavily manipulated disco-soul loops of "Move Slow (12" Mix)" and Billy O, a tipsy but groovy slab of choppy MPC house that once again leans heavily on short, occasionally filtered loops from a sugary soul track.
Review: As you'd expect, given the label's runaway success over the past few years, there are plenty of very familiar cuts on this 52-track 'best of' from the all-conquering Toolroom, including GotSome's tribal smash 'Nomad Chat', label boss Mark Knight's infuriatingly catchy, flute-driven Shovell collab 'Selecao', Mendo's sample-heavy G-houser 'Mooving' and CamelPhat's remix of Fatboy Slim. But there are plenty of less heavily rinsed gems on offer too, and with tracks from the likes of D.Ramirez, Leftwing & Kody, Dosem, DJ S.K.T and Dale Howard plus reworks of Sterling Void and Todd Terry classics, it's a no-brainer for tech-house jocks on a budget.
Review: More organic deep house and techno from the Fate & Fiction camp out of Bristol. Their fourth EP is a various artist compilation that satisfies the label's modus operandi just perfectly. From the dusty and sombre afterhours groove of Brighton upstart Greymatter's "Last Lift", the sexy late-night mood lighting of Thrilogy's "My Love" (following up a great one recently on Toolroom) through to local scene veteran Christophe (Futureboogie) with his emotive and neon-lit "Raiders" going for a bit of nu-disco action. An honourable mention to Delahay with the bittersweet deepness of "Providence" featuring Molly-Anne.
Review: If Mark Knight and Co. aren't busy enough celebrating Toolroom's big 15 year birthday at present (and its global parties in celebration of it), they've also found enough time for another mandatory volume in their esteemed Ibiza Underground series. With another collection of surefire hits and soon to be anthems that are sure to rock The White Isle this summer - this is all you need right here. A wide range of cuts (50 to be exact) that venture into darker territories come from the likes of New York duo Blondes on the fierce and broken "Quality Of Life" (Struction remix), the surprising addition of Scottish IDM wunderkind Lanark Artefax's "Touch Absence" (Intimidating Stillness mix), Dutch techno-bass merchant Martyn on the futuristic "Feel The Magnetism" and American retrovert Matrixxman on the tunnelling acid trip "Horizon". Rest assured that there's faire more typical of the label like Josh Butler, Franky Rizardo, Rick Wakley and birthday guests Booka Shade. For your convenience, the collection comes as two continuous mixes as well.
Review: Presenting the third full length from UK producer Graham Luckhurst aka Greymatter, following his acclaimed 2014 Visions LP for Wolf Music. This LP is a more advanced expression of his love of sampled, lo-fi sounds and 'a step up sonically' from previous material. Luckhurst's broadened palette has seen him take in an wide range of music over the years, from running the legendary Mr Bongo label with founder David Buttle. As a result his DJ sets include varied selections ranging from London, Ghana, Rio, Chicago, Detroit, Lagos and beyond. Highlights include the dusty and emotive deep house of "Clocks", the rather Motor City Drum Ensemble influenced soul-shuffle of "Argon Lover" and the exotic broken beat experimentalism of "In Shade" which would make even John Roberts stand up and notice.
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