Review: Jamie Jones returns to his Hottrax imprint for a various artists release. Named after his respected Ibiza party series, Paradise marks the Hot Creations founder's first original solo material since launching the label in 2013. Joining him are three respected producers. Jones kicks things off with the intoxicating bass-heavy bounce of "Under My Control", Finland's Kiki follows up an appearance on Exploited with the dub inflected tech house of "ALT:TUDE", heavyweight Parisian POPOF (Mindshake/MOOD) gets groovy on "Nowhere 2 Go" and Spanish artist Rafa Barrios, who's recently released on Sola and Stereo Productions presents "Lawless" which is aimed squarely at the mainroom dancefloor with that massive drop.
Review: More succulent than a bucket of fried chicken and twice as heavy, Vehicle's latest "Boogie Box" - the eighth in total - is full to bursting with floor-friendly, finger-licking fun. Editor-in-chief Valique is the man at the controls, gleefully charging between chunky, bass-heavy Afrobeat goodness (the chant-along heaviness of "Like It Is"), party-hearty deep house/disco-funk fusion (the heavy house beats and toasty electric piano stabs of "Mercy", shirts-off celebratory disco ("Disco Dancer"), swinging, Hammond-rich Philly Soul (Timmy Thomas rework "Got To See You Tonight") and strobe-lit peak-time insanity (the Clavinet-sporting disco rush of "Midnight"). In other words, it's another top-notch selection of club-ready revisions from one of the hardest working editors in the scene.
Review: Seth Troxler follows his recent release on Play It Say It with this fine split release. Working as Young Seth, he drops the deep, dubbed out house of "Moment", while "Relationships" sees him working under his own name with an equally cavernous but acid-laced groove. Then it's back to dance floor business for the time stretched vocals and stripped back rhythm of "Satisfy" and "Still Hot", a tracky affair penned with Shaun Reeves from Visionquest. However, this release demonstrates that Troxler is a restless producer and "Jus Your" is a quirky electro-funk affair, while "Aphrika" is an off beat, vocal led house jam. The release also features an old school house take on Kiki's "Good Voodoo" and Troxler's pulsating take on Fever Ray's "Seven".
Review: Canadian expat in Berlin Ed Ed teams up with Finnish expat in the same city Kiki, who is usually affiliated with local institution Bpitch Control for these two new tracks on Sasse's Moodmusic. The woozy and smooth rolling tech house of "Day Of Drones" is perfect to set the early evening mood, with its trippy vocal loops and wonky synths. The remix up next by Clink boss Camea is much fiercer and suited to the peak time with its adrenalised 909 beat accompanying those wonky synths to great effect. Second original offering "Wave Of Drones" is a dark journey track that is really in harmony with the current sound of Berlin at present. Finally London duo Azimute's remix breathes even more nefarious vibes into the track sounding like a one way ticket to hell and back!
Review: Hero of the Berlin scene and former B Pitch Control alumni Kiki is back on Exploited following up some great ones by Shir Khan, Douglas Greed and Adana Twins. "Tentacles" is a right little epic with Jadele's looped angelic vocals over a tight pre-peak time groove plus rich synths and just enough funk in the bassline. Second track "Paradise" featuring Boot Slap is a lot tougher and fierce with its tough and frantic drums working alongside some acid snarls, white noise splashes and another killer synth melody. Guaranteed and surefire dance-floor artillery direct from Berlin's best dance-floors to yours.
We Love - "End Of The Night" (David K Holy Key remix) - (7:17) 123 BPM
Aerea Negrot - "Macuto" - (6:26) 124 BPM
Review: As its title suggests, the latest compilation on Bpitch gives vent to the label's deeper side. It begins with Chaim's "Rain", where jazzy textures bubble to the surface over dubby beats. The track has an ethereal, almost subdued feeling to it and is in stark contrast to the raucous minimalism that Bpitch is sometimes associated with. This understated approach isn't confined to Chaim's contribution however; even more dance floor tracks like the pumping bass of Cormac's "The Present" are teeming with emotive undercurrents and Kassem Mosse's version of Ellen Alien's "Our Utopie" sees a series of chiming bells prevail over a pumping groove.
Review: It's a trans-continental collaboration as Finland's Kiki and Israel's Chaim question the effects of love. Ably assisted by vocalist Cari Golden, the duo return to the early 90s for influence with a pumping house groove, replete with old school keys and hardcore-evocative bells underpinning Golden's observation that 'love don't pay the rent'. Such existential considerations are put aside on "Clap II Thizz", a rolling groove littered with urgent, squealing saxophones and stuttering vocal snippets. But the remixes do revisit the theme: Chaim's version offers an esoteric feeling with the vocals sounding ghostly and detached, while Kiki's take is more ominous as building chords support Golden's contention that "we ain't got no flame".
