Review: Since 2007 Manuel Tur has been a key component in the success of Freerange and now label head Jimpster pays his respects by having the German's music remixed by a storied cast of producers. First up is Pepe Bradock who supplies a soulful, feather weight remix of "Golden Complexion" while Isole turns the hands-up "Most Of This Moment" into a reverberant warehouse dub (Gerd Janon's Tuff City Kids project ramp up the acid on their version). Other highlights include Jimpster's dreamy, stripped back, bassline heavy dub of "Back To Me" while John Daly goes 8-bit rave in his remix to "Es Dub" for a production reminiscent of Simian Mobile Disco.
Review: Essen's Manuel Tur returns to his home label Freerange with some remixed action from three of the hottest properties in deep, dubby house music. German tech don Steve Bug rewires "Ara Anam" into a sweltering, hypnotic late night DJ tool, while the always on-point John Daly models "Es Dub" and comes through with a chord-heavy, utterly dubbed-out percussive swinger for the early morning. "Agrafena" is then turned into a bass-heavy outsider house cut by none other than Aerea, with video-game bleeps and dusty percussion at its core.
Review: It's been some two years since the release of German producer Manuel Tur's last LP, the bizarrely titled Swans Reflecting Elephants. While that set was largely dark, moody and atmospheric, there's a cozy positivity about much of this belated follow-up. While there are hypnotic, late night moments (see the after party wonkiness of "About to Fall"), as a while Es Cub is a much more upbeat affair. Check, for example, the drifting Balearic house brilliance of "EL Soplo", whose extended breakdown serves to highlight the brilliance of Tur's yearning, metronomic groove, and the dizzyingly bright "AraAnam". Amongst the heartwarming deep house explorations you'll also find "Es Dub", a thrillingly sparse and atmospheric chunk of slow house that more than lives up to its name.
Review: Manuel's currency in deep house circles is so strong that we can name four countries in the EU who are thinking of dropping the Euro and using him! Of course by law we're not allowed to name these countries, but who can blame them? Tur's been serving up these rich, hypnotising, softly soulful grooves for quite some time now. Besides Manuel's textured, heads down jacking title track, the rest of the EP is given up to other people's remixes. "Maybe Next Lifetime" is a starlit, enchanting affair with Blakkat adding an ideal vocal tonic over King Brit's dubby edit. Ugly Drums' take on "I'm Alive" eases out with an addictive synth hook and so-simple-it's-silly groove while Homewreckers give "High Needs Low" added depth and some mechanical Chi-town mischief. Tur-rific!
Review: Warm and chugging disco-tinged house is on offer once again from the imperious Delusions of Grandeur, with the Foolin EP arriving with Germany's Manuel Tur at the wheel. Sticking with his usual synth heavy and sultry style, Tur strikes an immediately gritty tone of funk with tightly plucked guitar riffs, swooning brass and soulful vocals on the title track. Up next, an instrumental version of "Foolin" is accompanied by "The Traveller", which treads percussive realms with a heartbeat drum platform that pushes this otherwise orchestral and ambient track ever forward. Piano keys dance gently as string beds ascend against scatterings of brass and tinny crashes; our pick of the bunch.
Review: Wazi Wazi is usually the label on which we hear Nils Penner's productions, but the dude has also released on Freerange before, and he comes through on the label with a handsomely hand-picked compilation of the label's best from recent months. On the beautifully presented thirteen-tracker you'll find a selection of different forms of house, ranging from the deeper territories to more jacking and pumped up house cuts. The highlights include "My Man" by Lovebirds, Detroit Swindle's "Brother Man", and label head Jimpster with "Distant Light". You also get a continuous mix for good measure. Get in there.
Review: Long-standing German tech-house legend Steve Bug, founder of both Pokerflat and Dessour, returns to the latter label with something a bit special, and likely to satisfy all of your DJ needs. The producing don has taken it upon himself to remix a twelve tunes, all from different artists that have shaped the sound of house and techno as we know it today. You'll find Bug's retouches on artists like Simon Baker, Manuel Tur, and even Lovebirds. However, the special moments come from his sleek Re-Dub of Chez Damier's mythical house bomb "New York Dub", a stripped back edit of Laurent Garnier's "Whistle For Frankie, and the gorgeously deep swells of his remix of "Pensum" by Francis Harris. Masterful, and very much recommended.
Review: It's a commonly held belief that good house albums - and, for that matter, great deep house albums - are notoriously few and far between. Manuel Tur's first album for Freerange, 0201, got round this by peppering the album with downtempo interludes. This time round, he's done the same (see the blunted jazz of "Mirrors" or the glitchy, minimalist ambient-pop of Blakkat collab "I'm Alive"), though he's confident enough to devote much more space to proper deep house. It's a wise choice. Utilizing real instruments, looser grooves, more vocals and a broader range of house influences (Chicago jack, woozy techno, main room pomp and Detroitian deepness), Swans Reflecting Elephants is easily his strongest release to date. Best of all, this digital version comes with a free track!
Jimpster - "Ceilings" (feat Laura Barrick) - (6:31) 124 BPM
Brian Ring - "Love Taken Over" - (7:21) 123 BPM
Clavis - "Cydalise" - (6:32) 123 BPM
Shur-i-kan - "Beach Life" - (5:59) 122 BPM
Review: Its 20 years of Jamie Odell aka Jimpster's revered deep house imprint and he's celebrating in great style with this 20 track compilation that demonstrates that business is as good as ever and they're testament to how much the label has remained relevant. The label head honcho himself appears of course; first with Luv Jam on the smooth and dubby "We Play Pads" and the sombre and emotive "Ceilings" featuring Laura Barrick. Other highlights include Bulgarian hardware maverick KiNK's "Roads", Detroit Swindle's fiercely bumpin' "Race Against The Machine" and Pittsburgh Track Authority's magnificent high tech soul jam "Oculus Sinister".
Review: In the second round of surefire house goodness from a celebratory Freerange Recordings, your ears and record decks get treated to four slices of contemporary tackle from a spread of artists committed to pushing things forwards. Luv Jam kicks up the dust with a playful sensibility on the bouncy "Hamburglar" before Esa & Mervin Granger take a more fluid approach to deepest house with "Goema Heat". On the flip Freerange mainstay Manuel Tur brings some serious emotion to his piano notes without losing the funk on "Laguenesie", and Kito Jempere slides into squishy dub tones with a little help from Jerry The Cat and Ruslan Gadzhimuradov for "This Is Why We Do This".