Review: Waajeed's 2022 album, Memoirs Of Hi-Tech Jazz, was a paean to Detroit's musical heritage from techno to hip-hop and beyond. It comes as no surprise that this remix package is just as sonically diverse. The Yazzus version of "The Ballad of Robert O'Bryant" fuses frenetic jazz drums and percussion with a driving rhythm and an acid-fuelled tones. In stark contrast, the Jensen Interceptor x Assembler Code take on "Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz" is a stark electro workout, with a ferocious steely rhythm and murderous bass prevailing. Mark Broom's remix of "Right Now" is a more conventional techno track. Centred on a rolling tribal groove, it features dramatic stabs and a robust bassline.
Review: Fittingly, the first single to be released from Waajeed's recent (and frankly brilliant) 'Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz' album is 'Motor City Madness', a sax-sporting marriage of Detroit jazz, techno and deep house sounds. The EP opens with an extended 12" take on the album version, before a swathe of remixers take over. The headline-grabbing rework comes from Motor City techno mainstays Underground Resistance, who re-imagine the track as a driving, sax-sporting slab of bass-heavy, house-tempo techno futurism smothered in sci-fi strings. Elsewhere, Zo!, Tall Black Guy, Michelle Manzo and De'Sean Jones join forces as People Mover to drop a decidedly intergalactic-sounding, breakbeat-driven hi-tech jazz take, while the SHE Spells Doom remix is a breathless, Afro-house-tinged broken beat take that's as tough and infectious as they come.
Review: On his first album since 2018, Waajeed unveils his interpretation of one of the Motor City's most distinctive sub-genres, hi-tech jazz. It's a conceptual piece of sorts, with the album not only designed to be listening to while cruising around in your car, but also timed to last the exact length of a journey between two notable Motor City landmarks. After getting things going with a chunk of killer ambient jazz (resplendent with poetic spoken word vocals from Black Nix), Waajeed cannily combines vivid, sci-fi electronics and cracking deep house beats with live jazz instrumentation and - on a couple of occasions - stunning string arrangements. Our picks of a very strong bunch include the glossy, broken jazz-funk lusciousness of 'The Ballad of Robert O'Bryant', the deep jazz-house excellence of 'The Dub' and the neo-classical swell of 'Rouge'
Review: Detroit's Waajeed is best known for his work with Platinum Pied Pipers and Slum Village in the hip-hop/R&B arena, but this EP for Tresor finds him in beatdown territory, and with the mighty Underground Resistance also onboard it really is a must if deep, jazzy grooves are your thang. It's only a fat, squelchy electronic bassline that really separates the trumpet-driven 12" Version and accompanying Edit from what you might call "jazz proper", leaving the UR crew with the job of adding more overtly floor-friendly 4/4 beats and bringing the sax further to the fore - but this is sheer class whichever mix you plump for.
Review: Originally released in 2006 as a Radiohead tribute album - Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads returns to its original home at BBE Music. Highlighted artists across this compilation to cover Thom Yorke songs include Mark Ronson, Pete Kuzma, Alex Greenwald (of Phantom Planet) to Sia, Matthew Herbert and Sa-Ra - not to forget The Cinematic Orchestra, Osunlade and RJD2! And not to overlook curios from before, check out the cosmic fusion of The Randy Watson Experience's take of "Morning Bell", Shawn Lee's beaty remake of "No Surprises" to Wajeed's broken beat rendition of "Knives Out". Classic covers.
Review: 14 years have passed since Benji B and Judah established their monthly Deviation parties in London. This fine compilation celebrates the club's legacy and sound, which famously touched on all manner of soul-fired musical styles whilst keeping one eye (and both feet) on the dancefloor, with Benj B selecting cuts that never failed to rock the party. Expect a mixture of skewed, bass-heavy beats (Dorian Concept, James Blake, 00Genesis), heady instrumental hip-hop (Waajeed, Damn Funk remixing Baron Zen), Afro-funk (K Fimpong), peak-time UK bass mutations (Pearson Sound, Martyn, Mala), high-grade deep house (Gilb'r remixing Rick Wilhite, Theo Parrish) and a smattering of genuine scene anthems (Detroit Experiment, Maurice Fulton's remix of Alice Smith, DJ SPen presents DJ Technic).
Review: Lumberjacks In Hell draft in a sublime cast of sympathetic operators for a second volume of From Hell With Love, providing you with eight perfectly formed tracks that straddle the divide between cosy, home-friendly house and dancefloor delectation. Laville's moody vocal turn kicks the record off in style on Austin Ato's 'Control', while Waajeed works his broken beat magic on 'What You Know'. Elsewhere Detroit Swindle bring a tougher slant on soul-rooted house music to the table, while PBR Streetgang aim straight for your pleasure centre with the soaring 'Madame Z'. And that's just the half of it...
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