Review:
Fresh from turning in a killer remix of the Soup Dragons "I'm Free" alongside Midnight Riot boss Yam Who, Alan Dixon returns to the label with a feisty four-track missive. He fires from the word go, with bounding, energy-packed opener "All We Need Is Dance" delivering a brilliantly bouncy revision of a shirts-off, turn-of-the-'80s San Francisco disco smasher. The thrills don't stop there, either. "Let Ya Feet Rock" is a thrilling combination of elastic slap bass, synth-fired disco-boogie instrumentation and sturdy beats, "Dance Across The Floor" is a seductive 129 BPM deep disco workout, and "Forever" is a riotous re-edit of a stone cold classic that sounds like an end-of-night anthem in the making.
Review:
The Alma Negra collective are based in Basel, Switzerland and are made up of Miajica, Dario Rohrbach and Dersu Figueria. They have appeared on some great labels such as Lumberjacks In Hell, Basic Fingers and of course Heist - this will be their second appearance for Detroit Swindle's imprint since last year's Endless Summer EP. The new Conversation EP features more sweltering grooves by the trio: from the soulful and entrancing title track which is rich on the hypnotic tribal polyrhythms - it also receives a wonderful rework by Amsterdam's Awanto 3 later on too. Not to mention the sultry deep house of "This Is The Place" which takes it cues from the mighty Kenny Dixon Jr or the sexy late-night groove of "From The Heart" which is perfect to enjoy on what is left of these long summer evenings.
Review:
Since going solo following years spent collaborating with fellow Stockholm resident Mr Tophat, Art Alfie has delivered some superb material, not least a fine debut album for Studio Barnhus that expertly showcased his quirky approach to electronic music. His audio eccentricities are writ large across this Toy Tonics outing, from woozy and soft-focus opener "Downstreamed" - all dub-flecked, slow motion beats, lilting melodies and slowly shifting chords - to the bounding dub disco/deep house fusion of "Bondkatten". Fellow Swedes Mount Liberation Unlimited provide a superb "Ethereal Teen Dream" re-make of "Downstreamed", craftily re-imagining Art Alfie's original version as a defiantly dubby blend of Scandolearic bliss and hypnotic deep house.
Review:
The latest missive on Laut Und Luise's digital-only offshoot Lost In Luise comes from Artuani, a Basel-based producer whose recent musical output has mostly been impressively atmospheric and Balearic-minded. This EP is similarly lucid and dreamy, with the fast-rising musician serving up cuts that bob along at a suitably sedate pace. Our pick of the bunch is title track "Irreality", a hypnotic chunk of weirdo slo-mo house that wraps alien electronics and trippy backwards guitars around a smooth, tech-tinged deep house beat. There's more druggy and off-kilter vibes to be heard on "Magic Wand", where dystopian vocal samples and alien electronics slowly rise above a hushed, mind-altering groove, while both "Dinosaurs and Blunts" and the more pastoral "Without You" are impeccable electronic soundscapes.
