Review: Since joining Permanent Vacation in 2019, Yor Kultura has delivered a trio of EPs that put a new spin on tribal house and atmospheric techno. Here, the trio's work gets remixed for the first time since 2018. Rebedello steps up first and delivers a typically moody, loose-limbed, slowly building version of 'Shimming' rich in live-sounding drums, foreboding chords, sharp electronics and dystopian new wave riffs. DJ Ground handles 'The Hunting', layering sun-bright, rising and falling synthesizer melodies atop a restless bassline and lo-fi drum machine beats, before Yor Kultura re-imagine 'Today' as a fuzzy, stropped back, chugging tribal number complete with bursts of melody, panicked riffs and delay-laden vocal snippets.
Review: Ed Upton's DMX Krew output as always been heavily rooted in electro, but he's not averse to turning his hand to vintage-sounding synth-funk and synth-pop when the mood takes him. It's this end of his output that the Bedford-born producer explpres on Party Life, his second album for Permanent Vacation. Featuring his own spoken and sung vocals, pleasingly authentic '80s-sounding synths and bubbly basslines throughout, Party Life very much lives up to its title, delivering a swathe of catchy, ear-pleasing cuts that are more fun than, well, something extremely fun. Highlights include bubbly P-funk pop number 'Show Me', revivalist new jack swing number 'Anything' and the memorable, radio-friendly title track, which is also presented in a deliciously delay-laden 'Dub' mix mode.
Review: It's now 11 years since Wolfram joined forces with legendary house vocalist Haddaway to deliver 'Think Called Love', an uplifting fusion of proto-house, acid house and synth-pop elements that comed backed with remixes from Legowelt and KiNK. This reissue of the single contains brand-new Wolfram edits of his and Legowelt's versions. His new tweak is a relatively short, radio-friendly affair, so we'll focus on the two tweaks of Legowelt's versions. His take on the Dutch producer's acid-flecked 'Dub' is a genuine early morning treat, where intergalactic chord progressions and Italo-disco melodies dance around a shuffling drum machine beat and moody bassline. Arguably even better is his tweak of Legowelt's vocal remix, which sounds like an arms-aloft peak-time anthem in the making.
Review: Three mixes to choose from of this latest salvo from Permanent Vacation co-founder Benjamin Frohlich, which finds him joining forces with vocalist Vilja Larjosto, who's perhaps best known for her previous collaborations with Feater on Running Back. 'Coldwave/synth' is what it says at the top of this page, but the emphasis is firmly on the latter part of the equation here - think bliss-y 80s synth-pop rather than glacial gothic electronica. The accompanying Dubstramental offers a slightly mellower/deeper alternate pass, but it's the Dubwise Mix that wins out for yours truly as it looks to ACTUAL dub (and maybe some early 90s William Orbit remixes?) for inspiration.
Review: This one's a definite grower. Yours truly kinda dismissed lead track 'Make It Stay' at first, because the female vocal is very, very pop... but let it sink in and you'll be hooked! Prins Thomas's mix does exactly the kind of dreamy/cosmic/synthy thing you'd expect, while German veteran Boris Dlugosch steps up with a rub for house floors, but it's Gerd Jansons unashamedly 80s-tastic pass that takes the gold, as he loops up the vox into one long euphoria-fest. But if you're really NOT having that vocal, don't worry - in the form of 'Altetalenanti' and 'No More Push-Backs' you also get two darker, moodier synth-disco workouts.
Review: A few years back, siblings Peter and James Isaacs caught the attention of a fair few listeners with their first two EPs as Donald's House, which both paired a joyous, piano-heavy approach to house music with musical and percussive elements borrowed from nu-disco, freestyle, proto-house and high-class 1980s synth-pop. This colourful and tactile trademark sound remains as alluring on ever as The Final Front Ear, their first EP for Permanent Vacation. Our picks of a very strong bunch are the rushing and immersive, retro-futurist brilliance of 'Melodies on the Meridian' and the acid flecked, turn-of-the-90s Italian dream house-goes-psychedelic surge of 'Journey To Now-Here', though the whole EP is highly impressive.
Review: Like his fellow Permanent Vacation co-founder Benjamin Frohlich, Tom "TB" Bioly has devoted more time in recent years to growing his production career. His 2019 debut album, Romance, was quietly impressive, and this follow-up EP - his first new material in two years - is similarly well-made and packed with interesting ideas. Opener 'New You' is wonderfully deep, warming and melodious, with broken beats replacing his usual house and electronic disco grooves. He returns to more familiar territory on spooky late-night house number 'Praline' - all rumbling sub-bass, clandestine synth riffs and crunchy drums - before delving into ambient-not-ambient territory on gorgeous IDM cut 'Zzz'.
Review: Since joining Permanent Vacation two years ago, Yor Kultura has delivered two EPs that combine deep house nous with heavy tribal percussion and knowing nods towards a variety of global musical styles. The fast-rising trio subtly tweaks this now trademark sound on their latest EP for the Munich-based label, opening with a heady, atmospheric and faintly foreboding workout ('Vlucht') that adds ghostly chords, loose-limbed percussion hits and echoing steel pan melodies to hypnotic tech-house beats, synthesizer arpeggios and a deep, alluring bassline. They move further towards trance-inducing territory on 'Morse', where rising and falling high register synthesizer sounds dance atop a locked-in groove, before delivering some dark, stripped-back Afro-house on the brilliantly breathless 'Megane'.
Review: After earning his stripes on Running Back and establishing his own Love Attack label, Alan Dixon pitches up on Permanent Vacation with a predictably impressive four-track outing. He begins in fine fashion with squelchy, acid-sporting, piano-powered, retro-futurist breakbeat roller 'I'm OK, You're OK (We'll Be OK)' - a fine message in these troubled times - before getting deep and loved-up on gorgeous ambient number 'WWAWD'. 'Do You' sees Dixon add elongated organ chords and undulating acid bass to a hip-house style breakbeat, while closing cut 'Machina Jam' is a warehouse-ready slab of TB-303 driven goodness full of 'Good Life' style synth stabs and sustained synth-strings.
Zillas On Acid - "Lose Your Soul" - (6:44) 110 BPM
Third Son - "No Time For Theories" - (5:36) 126 BPM
Monty Luke - "Hard Work Not Hype" - (8:50) 120 BPM
DJ City - "Money Money" - (7:15) 125 BPM
Matisa - "Angelina" - (6:24) 130 BPM
Felice - "Just Passing By" - (6:19) 118 BPM
Venice Arms - "Chase The Feeling" - (6:37) 127 BPM
Dharma - "The Epiphany" - (6:03) 135 BPM
Tevo Howard - "Dreamtrack 3" - (4:41) 120 BPM
Time To Sleep - "For The Love Of" - (5:54) 115 BPM
Rosa Red - "Quarantina" - (4:33) 124 BPM
Heidemann & Man Power - "Trips" - (9:09) 120 BPM
Review: Some 15 years after Benjamin Frolich and Tom Bioly launched their Permanent Vacation label with a fine compilation of the same name, the Munich-based pair return with a seventh showcase of treats from the imprint's now sizable roster of artists. As you'd expect, it's an eclectic and uniformly high-quality affair, with the 22 included cuts touching on everything from cheeky electro covers of Chris Rea (DMX Krew's rather good take on 'On The Beach'), deep nu-disco (the star-fall synths and Italo-disco bass of Kendal's Basorexia') and sun-soaked, 80s synth-pop-meets-dream house bliss ('Digital Joy' by Rees), to sleazy slow acid ('Lose Your Soul' by Zilas on Acid), late-night proto-house revivalism (Felice's 'Just Passing By') and rushing, breakbeat-driven dancefloor dreaminess (Dharma's 'The Epiphany'). In a word: excellent.
Beam Me Up (Benjamin Frohlich remix) - (5:17) 122 BPM
Beam Me Up - (5:22) 110 BPM
Review: No prizes for working out what's going on here - the clue's in the EP title! First released in 2010, 'Beam Me Up' from NYC collective Midnight Magic is a mid-paced disco/boogie groover with a female vocal that suggests something of a Grace Jones fixation. As for the remixes, Theo Kottis pays homage to the Italo-house sound of late 80s/early 90s Ibiza, Perel takes us into stripped 'n' sleazy Berlin-ish territory and Krystal Klear's rub has an epic, big room feel, while Benjamin Frolich gives the track a much housier makeover. Each of the mixes will find its fans for sure, but Perel and Frohlich lead the charge to these ears.
