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Pronto
Browse the latest digital releases on Pronto
Played by: FINGERMAN, Romanto (YSR / DISCO MACHINE), Juno Recommends Funky House, James Curd, J&M BROTHERS, Todd Terry, Leo Leonardi aka Master Funk, BRENDON P, VIGI, Paper Recordings
Review: Following two collaborative releases (with Marcellus Pittman and Marius Vries respectively), Chicago veteran and sometime Greenskeepers member James Curd goes solo for the third missive on his freshly minted label, Pronto. In its original form (track one), 'I Am One, I Am Many' is an insatiably funky, Chicago boompty-influenced roller that makes great use of booming bass, crunchy Clavinet riffs, excitable disco samples and atmospheric female spoken word vocals. London twosome Make a Dance provide a trio of reworks: a rolling, organ-flecked, '90s US garage-influenced 'Remix', a hazy and effects-laden 'Deep Mix' and an organ bassline-propelled, extra-percussive 'Dub'. Elsewhere across the EP you'll find further reworks from T.U.R.F (big room, warehouse-ready hedonism), Nenor (synth-sporting, dub disco-influenced house stomp) and Adelphi Music Factory (colossal, hands-in-the-air disco-house bounce).
Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House
Review: Long-serving Chicagoan James Curd established the Pronto label earlier this year as a vehicle for his entertaining, party-starting house productions. He's already served up collaborations with Marcellus Pittman and Marius de Vries, and here drops a killer solo workout. 'Psychedelic Freak' draws influence from a mixture of classic NYC nu-disco and star-gazing deep house, with Curd layering cut-up vocal samples and spacey synth sounds atop unfussy beats and a bassline reminiscent of Metro Area classic 'Muira'. The accompanying remix package is predictably strong, with Tour-Maurbourg's jazzy boompty-goes-breakbeat house, Drop Out Orchestra's Morgan Geist style revision and Ten Fingerz' deep disco-house flip being our picks of a very strong bunch.
Review: The second release on the freshly minted Pronto label sees experienced Chicagoan house producer (and label founder) James Curd join forces with an unlikely collaborator: GRAMMY-winning British composer, keyboardist and audio engineer Marius De Vries. The pair's original, club-length mix is especially impressive, with Curd's drowsy spoken word vocals, spacey synth flourishes, warming chords and cascading vibraphone melodies riding a rubbery, action-packed disco-house groove. Jacques Renault opts for an extra percussive, filter-sporting, French Touch-style disco-house approach on his weighty remix, while Oliver Dollar makes the track bigger, snappier, heavier and bolder. Throw in a swathe of instrumental reworks and the more fluid and sun-splashed 'demo' version and you have an excellent package.
