Review: There's much to enjoy about the ninth volume in Toy Tonics' ongoing Top Tracks series, which showcases much played, sought-after highlights from the label's rapidly growing catalogue. The standard of material on show is uniformly excellent, from the warming and organic broken dancefloor soul of Cody Currie's compilation opening 'Moves' and the sparkling piano house retro-futurism of COEO's 'I Can Never Be Yours', to the Amp Fildder-esque deep house soul of Rhode, Brown & Kosmo Kint's 'Through The Night', and the good-time, carnival-ready dancefloor sunshine of Sam Ruffilo's disco-tinged 'Es Buena'. Throw in a couple of killer cuts from jazz pianist-turned-deep house don Joel Holmes, and you have a seriously good compilation.
Review: Having previously worked alongside Cody Currie on two terrific EPs, GRAMMY-nominated pianist and producer Joel Holmes has gone solo on this latest outing for Toy Tonics. As you'd expect given his credentials, Osmosis really is a fantastic collection of cuts. Check first opener 'It Feels Good', a fluid, warm and effortlessly soulful number that brilliantly joins the dots between Detroit deep house (think Moodymann, Theo Parrish and Amp Fiddler) and chunkier NYC flavours, before turning your attention to the deep, woozy and fluid 'Playing With My Mind', which boasts some great Kaidi Tatham style keys and synths. 'Pose' boasts a more bass-heavy and thickset groove alongside Holmes usual starry synths, while 'Got To Survive' is a sparkling slab of jazz-funk/soulful house fusion.
Review: London producer Cody Currie and American jazz pianist Joel Holmes first joined forces on 2019's "New Chapter", a brilliant EP that effortlessly joined the dots between dusty deep house, jazz-funk and Kaidi Tatham style broken beat. This speedy follow-up is arguably even better. They begin with the organic deep house soulfulness of "Love We Feel", where Holmes' wonderful vocals and keys-work rides loose-limbed beats and a warm bassline, before inviting a cast-list of guest vocalists and musicians to lend a hand on the futuristic, spoken word-sporting deep house/jazz-funk fusion of EP highlight "Metropolis". Elsewhere, "Shitz Cool" is a glassy-eyed shuffle through spacey, ultra-deep house dreaminess, while closing cut "Direction" is a deliciously positive, rich and life-affirming dance through musically expansive soulful house goodness.
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