Review: Some two years on from the album's original release, Night People serve up a fresh set of remixes of cuts from Eli Escobar's debut set, Up All Night. There's much to admire, with hyped disco/house fusionists Purple Disco Machine, in particular, impressing with their version of "Visions". A rolling deep house/disco fusion full of springy live bass, crispy beats and jammed-out organ riffs, it's just the thing to keep the party going when dancers are flagging. Escobar's own tweak of "Tension" - featuring vocal samples from a mid '80s Boyd Jarvis and Timmy Regisford production - is a late night, Italo throbber, while Whatever/Whatever join the dots between a myriad of classic NYC dance music styles on their acid-flecked, early morning rub of "NY So Hi".
Review: Keeping it simple is the name of the game on this latest from New York house wunderkind Escobar. It's a single-track affair, for starters - so none of those pesky remixes to worry about - while the track itself is a looping affair centred around a female "the rhythm, addicted to the rhythm" vocal that plays almost constantly, underpinned by a nagging synth riff that nods to classic-style Detroit techno. Various other vocal snips and ever-shifting drum patterns help to maintain the interest, but this is nevertheless an eyes-down, locked-in-the-groove kinda cut built to keep warmed-up floors moving through those peaktime hours.
Review: Here's something to set the pulse racing: a brand new album from sometime Classic Music Co contributor Eli Escobar, a producer who has proved to be one of the most distinctive and consistent in house music over the last few years. "Last Summer" contains a mixture of short interludes and inspired, almost uniformly dancefloor-friendly workouts that bring together a range of complimentary influences. Our picks include the atmospheric and acid-fired deep house warmth of "Flashing Lights", the muscular peak-time Moroder-isms of "(All Night) Rhythm", the melodious, sun-kissed Balearic house brilliance of "Blu" and the woozy warmth of "Last Night".
Review: As Eli Escobar let's it be known in "The Formula" that he's 'got something for you' as the sweet chorale chimes. There's a subtle Osunlade vibe to this album, the American's first, and Rhodes be flaying on "Visions" as they vamp to a climax like a Bootsy Collins solo. It's all stripped back business of "NY So Hi" - get down to this! And for some quality, sustained loops check out "Thank You Les". "Up All Night" is a dubbed-out, cool-as, disco-tinged burner and there's a whole load to discover here in a debut album rich with the type of soul you can only get from the streets of the big apple.
Review: Shawn Reed's Night People label is an outpost of quirkiness (they release tunes on retro formats like cassettes) out in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Responsible for bringing us all styles underground dancefloor action, they now give us a two tracker heavy hitter of a single from International PowerliftingFederation. "Only God Can Save Me' is a deeply intense slice of stark, jackin', no-nonsense electro. The second jam on here, "Love Is One The Brain", is a much calmer affair - with all the silky smooth warmth of a late 80s warehouse rave at sunrise
