Review: The sound of Jerome Sydenham's Ibadan imprint has noticeably changed since he relocated to Berlin. Where it once bristled with African rhythms and spiritual deep house jams, recent releases have focused more on hypnotic, occasionally dark, tech-tinged rhythms. While this EP does include one life-affirming blast of constantly rising spiritual house - see Sydenham's edit of Toto Chiavetta's "Become One" - for the most part it's suitably murky. There's a genuine looseness and swing to the Martinez Brothers' tracky Dub of The Angry Kids' "Lullaby", while Sydenham and Sally's "Lady MacBeth Strategy" is a twisted chunk of acid-flecked techno designed to tease and titillate dark, sweaty after-parties. Lo Hype's "Something Special" is tasty, too, with bouncy samples and weird noises riding a shuffling, cowbell-laden groove.
Review: The always-impressive Argy delivers his second full-length - the first under his familiar moniker - and it's arguably his most impressive body of work yet. The fact that it's on Ibadan gives a clue to its contents; from start to finish, Fundamentals is an album that reverberates to the grooves of 1990s New York (and specifically the trademark sounds of the Shelter and TWILO clubs). There are early Tenaglia-ish organ dubs, string-drenched piano jams, heady vocal excursions, a Kerri Chandler tribute (the wonderful "Dinner At Kerri's") and a very Ibadan-ish piano piece ("Absent Friends") - all accompanied by Argy's trademark high quality production.
Review: Ibadan drop another excellent split here. Jerome Sydenham remixes Motorcitysoul and then joins Dennis Ferrer to continue their acclaimed run of collaborations. "Mbali" is classic New York style deep house where as "Jero"steps into driving dub territory. Extra delights include extended and dub versions. Do not miss!
Review: Greek deep house producer Quell has been around the scene for some time, impressing with releases on the likes of Tsuba, 2020 Vision and Ibadan. The latter label have been particularly supportive - head honcho Jerome Sydenham is a big fan - and here present his debut full length, Them Crowd Kids. It's a typically impressive set, variously touching on classic US deep house ("Some Time"), mid '90s Mood II Swing style late night beefiness ("All I Have", "Them Crowd Kids"), deep afro-tech ("Forgive Me (Club Mix)"), jaunty afro-house ("Root Effect", with Sydenham), and fluid, heavily electronic dancefloor anthems ("Regret").
