Review:
More dusty yet sun-drenched happy house from Stockholm's Studio Barnhus, presenting their first ever label compilation. Volym 1 is curated by label bosses Axel Boman, Kornel Kovacs and Petter Nordkvist - who serve up some deep and joyous cuts from some label staples and newcomers alike. Or, in the words of the label: a mix of "Stockholm newcomers and superstar friends." Highlights on this fine collection of pop-inflected hybrids not limited to: wunderkind Baba Stiltz's lo-slung weirdo-pop displayed on "L.O.V.E.", co-chief Kovacs' emotive journey into the deep "On Roofs", Hamburg veteran DJ Koze with his inimitable style displayed yet again on "Hawaiian Souldier" and Catalan hero John Talabot doing what he does oh so well on the balearic house epic "The Change".
Review:
There's a reason why HNNY's "Sunday" is called what it is and take one listen to it and we don't think any further explanation will be needed. It's a marvellous opener that leads into a quirky 20 second loop followed by the Moby-esque "Cheer Up My Brother". Remember "The Sunscreen Song"? For a house version focused on fidelity check out "You Feeling Alright", and there's some dubbed out chimes in "Memory Tape One". Should albums by the likes of The Avalanches, Fat Freddy's Drop and Fatboy Slim to Quasimodo, Leon Vynehall and/or Paxton Fettel be your thing, give this a spin on your next day off.
Review:
DJ/producer duo Troo Luv and Charlie Loud aka Heartbreak Sound have a great knack of re energising hip-hop acapellas and dropping some of the finest mash-up material out there at the moment. This latest release on GAMM is an essential purchase which comes in four pieces - with D'Angelo's "Brown Sugar" given a slow, nu-Philly groove, Jeru Tha Damaja's late-period hit "El Presidente" treated to a thematically-correct Cuban remake, Mos Def's "Ms Fat Booty" redone with a new, DJ Spinna-esque set of beats, and Common's classic "The Light" given a gritty make-over.
Review:
Party breaks producers always say that it takes a long life of slogging before you make it to heaven, but not for this mash-up king who had reached Breakbeats Paradise early. That said Tom Showtime has paid his dues too with years of delivery the party ammunition. Here he joins forces with the aforementioned label to provide more of the usual light-hearted floorfillers. There are five jams to enjoy here including the funky, Fresh Prince-era hip-hop vibes of "Supernaturalflow", the tough breaky grooves of the Salt-N-Pepa-sampling, "Dancefloor Seasoning" and the sunshine vibes of dubby dancehall jam, "King Of Clubs".
Review:
There's no denying Funk Fusion definitely live up to their name; take these first two tracks which sample and flip Kool & The Gang and Tribe Called Quest numbers into something new and different for 2015. There's also a cheeky garage remake of Basement Jaxx, and for something slower check out the hip hop throw down of Aretha Franklin's "Say A little Prayer For You" by KMT. And have you heard Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" pitched against Sean Paul lyrics? Well you have now. Something for everyone.
Review:
Ben Jacobs aka Crackazat (we love that name!) returns to the unstoppable Local Talk imprint with his debut LP, a spiffing thirteen tunes of chimerical oddball house in a distinctive garage flavour for party goers and heads alike. Heavy chords, mild pads and plenty of digital processing feature throughout this beauty, where tracks like "Let Love" and "Eye Light" - NY house kinda joints - blend ever so well with more broken and stranger counterparts like "Oh Pagode" or "Ambience", the latter of which is a blissfull excursion into dense and meditative soundscapes. Gorgeous!
Review:
Fresh from the release of his fine Return of the Sample Jesus full-length on hometown label Uncanny Valley, Cuthead pops up on Local Talk. It's largely business as usual, with the Dresden producer delivering a quartet of chunky, club-ready deep house cuts laden in ear-catching samples. The title track and "Get Down" both pepper bumping, energy-packed beats with cut-up hip-hop vocal samples, heavy bass and twinkling deep house electronics, suggesting both pack a serious dancefloor punch. "Potato Express" wraps woozy, soulful horn samples around a loose-limbed, jazz-flecked house groove, while closer "What Can I Say" is a drowsy, Dilla-esque instrumental hip-hop excursion.
Review:
After the immediate success of his high profile collaboration with Dynamite MC, Bazza Ranks returns with another box of breakbeat goodness on "That Stuff" in collaboration with Imagine This. This one if for the singalong fans, combining funky breakbeat riffs with catchy lyricism to great effect.,On remix duty The Allergies rework the track with some soulful backing, whilst WBBL throw together a complete dubstep infused electro refurb.
Review:
Joe Mount of lovable scuzz pop outfit Metronomy mans the latest volume in the long running Late Night Tales, a series who always seem to get the best results out of an unexpected cast of participants (Belle & Sebastien, MGMT, Trentemoeller and Midlake being recent inductees) It's hard not to get sucked in from the sugar sweet opening of Outkast's "Prototype", which is the first of several tracks that demonstrates Mount has a penchant for slow bumping R n B and outsider hiphop with Tweet, Sa Ra and a Dr Octagon classic also appearing. A typically far reaching approach to genres applies here with the cosmic jazz of Chic Corea happily mingling with Autechre and Two Lone Swordsmen and American synth oddities Geneva Jacuzzi and Appaloosa mingling for attention with The Alan Parsons Project and Herman Dune. The de-rigueur cover version arrives with a Metronomy rendition of Jean-Michel Jarre's"Hypnose" whilst Paul Morley ends the selection with a spoken word piece.
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