Review: Fresh from delivering an EP of nostalgic 'Club Specials' on regular home Wolf Music Recordings, Frits Wentink returns to Clone's Royal Oak imprint for the first time since 2020. Title track 'Spiritual Basslines' - which is available in 'Club Mix' and 'Extended Mix' variations - follows a similar sonic template to the Amsterdam stalwart's most recent releases, adding classic deep house sounds to the kind of skippy, loose-limbed groove most often found on late '90s US garage releases. Highlights elsewhere across the EP include the vintage Nu Groove-influenced excellence of 'Eternity', the dub house meets-nu-disco shuffle of 'Golf Cart Joyride', and the deliciously deep, dusty and dubby shuffle of 'Olympiad'.
Review: Wallace's first outing on Rhythm Section International was genuinely brilliant, so hopes are naturally high for the rising star's sequel. Check first deep, dubby and driving title track 'Papertrip', where echoing, dub techno style motifs, restless piano riffs and infectious hand percussion hits rise above a kick-drum-driven beat and a jazzy bassline, before admiring the ragga vocal-sampling speed garage revivalism of 'BB' (note the nods to mid-90s MK and a genuinely weighty bassline). 'The Function' joins the dots between skippy US garage rhythms and ultra-deep, dubbed-out house, while 'Backwaters' adds sunrise-ready sounds and psychedelic electronics to another deep, skippy and sub-heavy house groove.
Review: Over the last few years, Martin 'Atjazz' Iveson has spent a fair amount of time mentoring Peacey, a young producer with oodles of talent. That much is proved by the rising star's expansive debut album, a superb 16-track set that combines sizzling colo cuts with a string of inspired collaborations. The Edinburgh-based artist sets his stall out via the luscious horn arrangements and immersive ambient electronics of 'Play It By Ear', before drifting between head-nodding R&B loveliness (Oveous hook-up 'Love In The Forest'), sensual and seductive, soul-flecked deep house ('Hold Me Back' with Clyde and Atjazz), mid-tempo boogie-soul ('Playground' with Rona Ray), dubby and dreamy downtempo grooves ('Last Night's Dream'), deep and techy, spoken word-sporting dancefloor workouts ('Culture Bandit' with Vanessa Hidary) and jazz-funk influenced excellence (LaRoye collab 'In The Distance').
Review: It's hard to keep up with the hugely prolific output of UK don Burnski and his several different labels these days but one thing is for sure - Pilot keeps on serving up the goods. For its 15th release, the tech and minimal focussed label welcomes Robin Graham who opens up with the lively and colourful synths of bustling groover 'Check Me Out'. 'Spark Plug' is more business-like, the dry drums and hits overlaid with retro chord stabs that amp up the crowd. 'For You' then gets loose and funky with some twisted and sugar synths over garage-flecked beats, while the refix of 'What's That' offers a jumbled percussive sound full of dynamism.
Review: Since the release of his soul, R&B and downtempo-inspired 'Birdhouse' album in 2022, Jamie 'Jimpster' Odell has pivoted back to the dancefloor, serving up a sequence of deep house-fired singles. He continues that run on his first outing of 2024. Opener 'You're My Ecstasy' sets the tone, with the Freerange founder adding echoing soulful vocal snippets to a typically luxurious deep house workout laden with skippy drums, heady bass and dreamy chords. Title track 'The Passion', featuring King Crowney, comes in two variations: an immersive, woozy and piano-laden original mix that's both dancefloor-ready and musically expansive, and a more fluid, jaunty and upbeat Atjazz remix in the veteran producer's trademark style. Basically, it's another must-check EP from one of British deep house's most reliable producers.
Review: Ed Upton has long been one of British dance music's most prolific producers, with his latest album on Hypercolour - the typically vibrant Spiral Dance - marking his 24th full-length excursion as DMX Krew since 1996. Its' 13 tracks are typically vivid, inventive and entertaining, with the Bedford-born producer rushing between intergalactic electro ('Always Hats'), sub-heavy UK techno futurism (the bleep-influenced 'Bathtime Bobby'), house-tempo dancefloor IDM ('Spiral Dance'), Spacetime Continuum style ambient techno (the chill-out room friendly 'Back To '92'), synth-laden analogue cheeriness ('Is This Normal'), heady beat-free soundscapes ('Hammer Slowly Forming'), early Autechre style electronica ('Ankle Grinder') and sweaty acid house ('FM Assembly').
Streets Of Rage (feat Omari Clarke - original mix) - (10:04) 125 BPM
Cosmic Funk (dub mix) - (4:18) 128 BPM
Gimme The Rhythm (dub mix) - (6:16) 124 BPM
Mind Made Up (dub mix) - (5:30) 123 BPM
Review: Mike Nasty is one of the more storied operatives on New York's deep house underground, with a bulging catalogue of singles and EPs to his name. 'Black Planet' is his first full-length excursion and does a terrific job in showcasing his trademark sound - an immersive and musically rich take on deep house full to bursting with fluid pianos, subtle jazz references and addictive basslines. Highlights include gorgeous and breezy opener 'Cosmic Funk', the luscious Latin horns and soulful flavours of 'Gimme The Rhythm', the Osunalde-esque wonder that is 'Mother Earth', the stretched-out and the wobble bass-propelled Omari Clarke collaboration 'Streets of Rage'. A trio of top-notch dancefloor dubs - interpretations of other cuts across the collection - completes a fine set.
Denney & King Crowney - "Dance With Me" - (5:34) 128 BPM
Anni 80 - (6:14) 124 BPM
Review: James Denny may not get the media coverage of some of his contemporaries, but his track record - which includes singles on REKIDS, Hot Creations and Crosstown Rebels - is exemplary. It makes sense, then, that Shall Not Fade boss Kieran Williams has added him to the label's ever-expanding roster. Opener 'Dans La Nuit', a charging and sample-rich slab of peak-time house joy rich in jazzy guitar licks, bouncy beats and 'Knights of the Jaguar' sty;e synth strings, is the pick of a very strong bunch, but the other two tracks on show are excellent too. King Crowney collaboration 'Dance With Me' is a sizzling and humid, percussion-and-trumpet-heavy slab of Latin house hedonism, while 'Anni 80' sees him create hands-aloft gold out of unfussy house beats and synth-heavy samples from a long-forgotten 1980s treat.
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