Review: File Under Balearic Gabba marks the inaugural release in a promising series of DJ tools, encompassing remixes, edits, originals, and licensed tracks, adorned with distinctive artwork by PlanetLuke reimagining the Balearic Gabba logo. Helming the debut are core Hell Yeah artists, with SIRS, aka Daniel Klein, kicking things off with a Berlin-infused take on Caramel 3000's "Super Rapido", a nine-minute odyssey blending kosmiche chug and tropical percussion. Japanese downtempo maestro Calm follows with his Mellow Mellow Acid Dub of Sergio Messina & The Four Twenties's "Sometimes Remember", a nostalgic acid daydream and a fitting sunset soundtrack. Feel Fly contributes an Estatico Danzante Remix of Pedro Bertho's "Tornei", elevating the EP with twinkling keys, dusty breakbeats, and warm, worldly vocals. The final act is DJ Spun's It's Rong Remix of My Friend Dario's "Acid Mosquito in a Summer Night", a nine-minute exploration into jungle humidity, tribal percussion, and a spooky lead synth over lurching drum breaks.
Review: Italian legend Quiroga, also known as Walter Del Vecchio, takes us on a riveting journey through the acid house era with his latest offering on Hell Yeah Recordings. This intriguing package includes two original tracks, an ambient mix, and a remix by the revered DMX Krew. In "Once Again," Quiroga delivers a punchy and robust house groove that's laced with a touch of eccentricity. The "Ambient Version" of "Once Again" takes a detour into the downtempo realm. It retains the wild acid lines but introduces ethereal effects, old-school piano chords, and a soulful female vocal that dances alongside a blissful breakdown. DMX Krew steps in to offer his take on "Once Again" with a remix that transforms the track into a bumping acid-electro monster. This remix exemplifies the art of sonic manipulation, making the original composition entirely new and exhilarating. "Freak The Funk" serves as the second original cut on this release. It rides on crisp snares and snapping drum breaks, complemented by a warm bassline and smeared cosmic chords that grace the top. It's a classy peak-time house production with magical pixelated synth melodies, showcasing Quiroga's innate ability to craft music that's simultaneously stylish and dynamic.
Review: Verdo hails from Senigallia on Italy's Adriatic coast, where he runs Gratis Club, a venue that's welcomed the likes of Prins Thomas, Bjorn Torske and Glenn Underground in recent times. Whether 'Prins' is consciously a tribute to the former we couldn't say but we wouldn't bet against it: it's got that druggy, glacial, synthy Scandi-disco feel in spades. Elsewhere on the EP, 'Boulevardier' has a more 80s feel - think 'Fade To Grey' vs 'Axel F' - and comes accompanied by a dubbier, more percussive Pedro Bertho Remix, while the similarly-themed but slightly more Balearic-ish 'I Want It' completes the package.
Review: Italian Balearic specialist My Friend Dario has an album due on Hell Yeah! Recordings, but before that drops the label has delivered this tidy taster. 'Marittimo' is typical of the languid, subtly jazz-funk-influenced end of the Balearic spectrum (a sound beloved of many Italian producers), with lovely electric piano motifs and marimba melodies reaching skywards towards the sun over Afro-influenced percussion and a jaunty bassline. Berlin-based Canadian Eddie C delivers a more up-beat remix, adding winding TB-303 acid lines, cut-up electric piano stabs and undulating lead lines to a pots-and-pans percussion workout that's alluringly loose and energetic. Top stuff all told.
Review: With Hell Yeah out of Italy now basing themselves in Berlin and chasing that imaginary Balearic sun - this Buena Onda Balearic Beats 2021 compilation sees the label deliver a bevvy of unreleased tunes and remixes. With global content coming from the likes of Australian producer Kayroy (who appeared on the label in 2020 with his Imaginary Expeditions EP) - hooking up with Jaspar Robinson in the star-strung "Satellite - you'll find warm and percussive synth remixes from Max Essa alongside some loose joints from The Mechanical Man. Also catch Chris Coco & Micko Roche's undeniable "What Is Love" (that guitar, those pipes) next to the percussive, broken beat and vocoded sounds of "The Healing Place" by Relative. Hell Yeah - get to know.
Review: Fresh from releasing the genuinely brilliant - and super-Balearic - Cosmic Sailing EP on NuNorthern Soul, Italian producer My Friend Dario makes his bow on Hell Yeah! Recordings. While both tracks on offer are hugely atmospheric, immaculately produced and genuinely immersive, they're undeniably far more dancefloor-focused (or, at least, rhythmic) than his previous output. 'Desertica' is particularly special - a droning, moody and surprisingly psychedelic chugger in which echoing percussion hits, moody electronics, spacey acid lines and delay-laden synth motifs ride a North African-influenced house groove. In contrast, 'Sunset Outro' is relatively light and airy, with squally, psychedelic guitar sounds, TB-303 lines and elongated chords stretching out across a looser groove.
Review: Stuck at home with nothing to do for days, starved of culture and community? Now you know how Bjorn Torske felt in the Tromso of the late 80s, writes Hell Yeah. Bjorn Torske, a legend to come out of the enigmatic Norwegian disco scene, and now Hell Yeah Recordings main selector, has been called upon to captain a flight through Hell Yeah Recordings impressive discography. With cassettes of the mixtape already sold out, this digital version - with stand alone tracks - brings together sounds of label mates like Alexander Robotnic, Max Essa, Luminodisco and the much loved Gigi Masin & Templehof collaboration. Gliding from Calm's celestial "Space Is My Place" to Crimea X's piano-driven "10PM", housier Lauer remixes or Prins Thomas Diskomiks, Torske makes himself known by threading some his own own edits (and kleggsommer dubs) to complete a fantastic voyage through the Italian label. Hell Yeah!
Review: Italy's Hell Yeah label call upon a select cast of remixers to take on the Neapolitan sounds of Walter Del Vecchio, aka Quiroga, that gives a second look at the artist's original 2019 Passages album. A Vision Of Panorama brings some cooler, breathy and tropical house vibes to "The Zoist" with some slower, subaqueous and dubbed out instrumental disco coming from My Friend Dario ("Chiaia Sunset"). Whodamanny introduces some hightailing disco funk in his reinterpretation of "Martinica Feelings" with jazz, percussion, finger lickin' guitars and drum solos pushed to full tilt in the Jazz n Palms remix.
Review: Lifting his alias from a Vitalic track released back in 2005, My Friend Dario returns once again to Italy's Hell Yeah label. The Catania-raised producer sends in a hell of a distorted guitar, soul and disco ballad that's big on tropical vibes and balearic spirit in "Montalbano" while heavier new wave and Italo-inspired sounds find their way to "In Gola". That distortion returns in "Salamon's Son" once again though this time it's coated over synths and keys alongside snapping drums machines, sultry vibraphones and sexy subbass. We wanna go to Montalbano!
Review: If you enjoy dreamy, otherworldly music tailor-made for sunsets and sunrises, there's a fair chance you already own a number of Max Essa releases. While his singles are often excellent, it's his albums that really stand out. "The Great Adventure", the Tokyo-based Brit's first LP in two years and fifth solo set in total - is typically impressive. Rich in dreamy analogue synthesizer sounds, even gentler rhythms and glistening, sun-bright guitar solos, it's the kind of album that feels like a warm, loved-up embrace from start to finish. Amongst the undeniably Balearic highlights are the Flamenco-tinged nu-disco shuffle of "The Great Adventure", the yearning ambient-meets-dub bliss of "Themes From The Hood, The Cad & The Lovely", and the picturesque beauty of "Buran Chime".
Review: While best known for the more Balearic and downtempo side of its output, Italian imprint Hell Yeah is not averse to releasing the odd dancefloor-focused EP from time to time. This missive from Australian producer and sometime Whiskey Disco regular Kayroy snugly fits that category. The headline attraction is arguably GREETINGS collaboration "Imagine", a wonderfully colourful combination of cascading electronic melodies, breezy piano stabs, nu-disco drums and a squelchy bassline straight out of the NYC freestyle playbook. Dawn Again provides the obligatory remix, successfully re-imagining the track as a breakbeat driven chunk of bass-heavy dream house warmth.The EP's other tracks, "Orbitale" and " Galapegos", are both Galaxians style chunks of revivalist electrofunk cheeriness smothered in kaleidoscopic synth sounds.
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