Review: Frankfurt house hero Butch is back on the ever reliable Italian imprint Rebirth alongside Cvogt - son of the renowned German violinist K.Vogt, He started as an academic student of piano and saxophone, but the discovery of electronic music gave new impetus to his creative personality. Butch saw the potential talent and they started to collaborate. This will be their second hook up since 2016's terrfifc "Bliss". Perhaps a reference to an estemmed Offenbach base club, "Live At RJ" is a melodic and emotional expression in deep house no doubt geared for weepy moments on the dancefloor. This is followed by a beatless Reprise which takes the vibe of ambient balearica that's perfect for back rooms or Sunday summer open air parties.
Review: Argy originally rose to prominence during the mid-00s minimal boom, but as this release demonstrates, his focus has since shifted to deeper house. "Let's Play" features the soulful vocals of Blue Jay, coupled with a steely percussive rhythm and subtle acid builds. It's haunting and distinctive, an effective and impressive modern take on Chicago and New York house. The ever popular Butch has been tapped for a remix, and he turns the original into a churning chord-heavy reshape, bristling with insistent high hats. Rebirth has also asked Echonomist to provide an interpretation and the Greek producer obliges with a chugging, dub-heavy take, led by cavernous conga drums and woozy filters.
Review: Gabriel "Lele" Sacchi joined Rebirth last year, following an impressive 2016 solo debut on Prins Thomas's Internasjonal imprint. Surprisingly, this is the producer's first single for 12 months. "Dreaming Won't Do" is impressively positive and colourful, with Chic style disco guitar stabs and dreamy vocal samples from a classic disco-boogie cut rising attractively above an Italo disco-inspired groove. Tiger and Woods reach for the pianos on their fantastic peak-time house rework, before former Visionquest twosome Benoit & Sergio re-cast the track as a strobe-friendly chunk of Moroder-inspired Euro-disco brilliance that will have dancers reaching for the lasers in no time at all.
Review: Italian label Rebirth Records presents the fifth volume of the Rebirth Lab series, featuring new material by renowned British nu- disco hero Jay Shepheard. The Retrofit head honcho serves up "Touch Tone", an impressive change in style that sees the Berlin based artist explore a deep tribal groove - and it's perfectly suited to the afterhours. Also appearing is 28-year old Tunisian DJ and producer HearThuG (My Favorite Robot/Audiomatique) with the uplifting and melodic "Drunk In Love" featuring some nifty synth textures throughout. Finally, Milan's Will Blake - of the duo BLAKE Inc. (TRAX Records) gives us the blunted yet dreamy hip-hop joint "Fil Rouge" which is just so sublime.
Taras Van De Voorde - "1998" (Ewan Jansen remix) - (6:49) 125 BPM
Review: Last year Rebirth Records celebrated a decade with the release of an acclaimed compilation selected and mixed by Larry Heard. They are now happy to present Rebirth 10 Remixed: a special collection that will feature brand new versions of some of the classics from the label in the last 10 years. The package features remixes from some of their favourite artists. Prescription Records boss Ron Trent works his magic as always on the evocative rendition of Tevo Howard and Tracey Thorn's "Without Me", more Windy City goodness courtesy of the inimitable Roy Davis Jr handing a deep and sultry remake of Bocca Grande's "Below My Hands" and Ewan Jansen, on form as always, with the soulful take on Taras Van De Voorde's "1998".
