Review: Akua Grant's outings as Lady Blacktronika are always worth checking, and her first full outing on Peggy Gou's Gudu label is no different. Opener 'Baby I Got It', for example, is full-on aural madness - a bombastic blend of beefy, redlined house drums, ghostly chords, pitched-up vocal samples and discordant minor key melodies - while 'Sing The Blues' is a deliciously drowsy chunk of wayward, dub-flecked deep house that's as beautiful as it is trippy. Arguably best of all though is the locked-in deep house hypnotism of closing cut 'Hold My Hand', which features some superbly soulful vocal samples, metronomic bass and spacey electronic textures.
Review: Coming across like a mixture of Soichi Terada's sublime deep house and the pacy rhythms of late 90s UK techno, the title track of Mogwaa aka Seungyoung Lee's debut release on Gudu is a distinctive affair. He slows down the pace somewhat on the robust rhythms of "Cloudride", but the cosmic vibes remain, articulated by easy-listening keys and swirling synths. "Spatial Bliss" sees the South Korean producer explore a more chilled approach, with snappy drums and a laid-back groove underpinning blissed out melodies, while on "Fizz" Mogwaa deploys a chilling string sequence over sparse electro 808s - a suitably futuristic finale to this spellbinding release.
Review: Released last year, 'I Go' saw Peggy Gou in Italo-disco-influenced synth-pop mode, with psychedelic acid lines, sweet South Korean vocals and attractive melodies rising above a Bobby Orlando-esque bassline. Here the track is given a new lease of life by a trio of high-profile producers. Belgian behemoths Soulwax do a terrific job in re-inventing the track as a retro-futurist, warehouse-ready house epic - all muscular sequenced bass, bustling drums, rave-igniting stabs and hands-in-the-air intent. DJ Koze does a lovely job of re-framing 'I Go' as a bubbly, bright and breezy nu-disco number, while Maurice Fulton delivers one of those killer re-rubs based around his funky, cut-up bass guitar lines, Nile Rodgers guitar licks and sparse-but-snappy percussion.
Review: JRMS is a new project between newcomer Joseph Cardone and Massimo Di Lena, a veteran who has released on Cadenza and Royal Oak. Issued on Peggy Gou's label, the project sees the duo deliver a pared back, gritty take on house music. The title track is a shuffling, drum-heavy track featuring repurposed rave stabs and a powerful sub-bass. "Shake" sees them take on board electro influences, with a squelchy low end supporting shuffling drums. Meanwhile on "3", the pair drop a percussive rhythm track that underpins detuned squelches and tight claps. Changing tact again, they deliver the tripped out "Solo", which is sure to work for DJs who like to play deeper.
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