Review: Under the Tee Mango alias, Millionhands chief Tom Mangan has been tearing it up of late. Here he debuts on Clone Royal Oak following fine outings on Aus Music, Royal Oak and, of course, Millionhands. He hits the ground running with opener "Confused", an attractive mixture of woozy deep house chords, lo-fi machine drums and dazzling, starburst style synths, before reaching for the cowbells on trippy deep house jack-track "Going Wrong". Turn to the virtual flipside for the extended build-ups, psychedelic synthesizer cycles and Motor City influences of "Via Carlos" and the ultra-positive brilliance of "Losing Control", where a soulful vocal sample is worked hard over a slick and spacey deep house groove.
Review: Here is the alter ego of Millionhands big cheese Tom Mangan. As Tee Mango he has had releases with Will Saul (and released on his Aus Music imprint earlier this year) and he's next up on Mad Mats & Tooli's Local Talk imprint. There's some splendid expressions in nu-jazz deepness on offer on the Dadhouse EP. Beginning with the emotive and chill groove of "Don't Worry Everything's Going To Be Alright" with some mad syncopated rhythms: hear the drummer get wicked! "Trying Times" is smooth and jazzy deep house reminiscent of classic Nick Holder with its smoky Rhodes. dusty rhythms and sexy soul vocals. On the flip, the reduced tribal-dub-DJ tool "The Rhythm" (Drums 3) was particularly impressive and reminded us of Kerri Chandler's more esoteric moments. Finally "Your Love" ends this fine EP on a bittersweet note on this Arthur Russell style jam.
Review: Millionhands head honcho Tom Mangan is back as Tee Mango on Aus Music - this would be his third appearance on the label in less than a year - which speaks volumes really. EP#2 features the lo-slung sexiness of "Make It Last Forever" featuring that awesome Inner Life sample throughout. First, we have something a bit more energetic and harder hitting exists in the form of "Prototypical". A soulful and emotive house journey featuring gritty rhythms, a tough bouncy bassline and trippy stabs that's perfect to take crowd into the later hours. To finish, we have the funky deep-disco bounce of "Wazoo" that's perfect mood lighting for the early evening!
Review: Mad Mats' Swedish label release their seventh annual label compilation, and suffice to say that whatever particular sub-shade of deep house floats your boat, you're unlikely to come away unsatisfied here. Like it soulful? Then check for Trevor Lawrence Jr's 'Tiptoe'. Like it jazzy? Try Prequel's 'Lefty'. Fiending for those old skool Jersey organ jams? Jamie 326 & Masalo's 'Red Light' will thrill you. Or if it's stripped-back 3am tracky shizzle you're after, allow us to point you in the direction of First Floor's 'You Dubn't Know', with its throbbing bass and hauntingly familiar vocal sample. Now you're talking!
