Review: Although his earliest releases back in the mid 1990s were hard techno and acid trance affairs, Shaka has spent much of the last decade delivering deliciously warmed and carefully crafted deep house cuts for labels including Local Talk, Colour Ltd and his own Vibes & Grooves imprint. Here the Swiss veteran makes his bow on Quintessentials with four more finely-honed slabs of warming deep house perfection. Check first the woozy stabs, starry Rhodes solos, squelchy bass and crunchy machine drums of 'Hot Ingredients', before admiring the jazzy, Latin-tinged, organ-rich excellence of 'Four Flowers'. Elsewhere, 'I Can Tell That' sees Shaka opt for a deeper, smoother, early morning vibe, while 'We Gonna Get You' is a jazzy and shuffling delight.
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: Local Talk's latest recruit Shaka (real name Kurt Spichiger) is something of an unsung hero - a Swiss house producer who has periodically served up deep and seductive slabs of musical goodness since the mid 1990s. His first EP for Mad Mats and Tooli naturally has a classic feel, with title track 'Theme From Riverwalk' layering luscious electric piano motifs and spacey chords atop a bouncy groove rich in tough drums, jazzy synth-bass and hazy, US garage style organ stabs. He opts for a far jazzier and more uplifting sound on 'New Relationship', where fluid piano solos and sparkling, Herbie Hancock style jazz-funk synths rise above a jaunty Latin-house groove. Both tracks come accompanied by solid, club-focused Dub mixes.
Review: Shaka, not to be confused with the UK reggae legend, lands on Freshly Squeezed with 5 nutty cuts that span the entire dance spectrum. The break-centric artist launches his aerial attack with the loopy-boogie bass of "Ultrafunk", before landing on the funkiest of territories via "Grow That Phunk" - and that's definitely 'funk' with a big 'PH'! "Fat Bad Beat" is a slower, more seductive lovers tune that still manages to unleash noxious levels of electro bass, while "Double Saxy" breaks the beats up into something reminiscent of early-era NYC hip-hop, and "Saxy" acts as its instrumental counterpart. Lovely stuff!
Review: Brazilian trio Shaka release their worldwide debut EP 'Spacefunk' on Brighton funk label Freshly Squeezed. "Spacefunk" is the kind of funked up acid jazz that reminds us of UK legends Corduroy. "Crumble" gets on the more hip-hop vibe with its crusty beat and scratched 70's psychedelic rock samples; it's wicked actually! "Freedom" gets more on the soulful tip and is epic, with it's diva vocals and dark bassline. Finally "Boogie" is a nice slab of funky breaks with a bossa influence, those steel drums get pretty funky and sassy, we're lovin' it!
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