Review: More value-for-money goodness from Situationism's 'In The Bag' series, which offers up tried-and-tested tunes and never-before-heard remixes of catalogue cuts. As you'd expect, label bosses Situation are heavily represented, with Max Essa's dreamy, squelch-along Balearic nu-disco tweak of 'Say Goodbye' being joined by Masterman's deep and spacey house revision of their Andre Esput hook-up, 'Not So Crazy'. The hits come thick and fast elsewhere across the EP, from the groovy, dubby, disco-tinged deep house shuffle of 'Peqach Snapps' by Francesco S, and a gorgeously summery spin on Javontte's 'Beautiful' by South Beach Recycling, to the deep, broken house sunshine that is 'L'Amore' by Aaron Matthews, and the mid-tempo New Jersey garage retro-futurism of Bittasuite's 'We Have Landed'.
Review: Sheer quality here from Situationism as they bring us a track aimed straight at underground house floors: 'Dance Or Buy' is about as likely to get played on daytime radio as Lichtenstein are to win the next FIFA World Cup, but if you're someone whose musical vocabulary can stretch to encompass Blaze's 'My Beat', Larry Heard's 'Washing Machine' AND Mutabaruka's 'Dis Poem' then trust us, you need to be adding this to your collection forthwith. Remix-wise you've got a throbbier 6AM Dub and a slightly more light 'n' airy BRS Remix to choose from, but the three don't vary hugely and any one of 'em will get knowledgeable floors moving for sure.
Review: Here two of Situationism's compilation strands combine: 2up 2down, which focuses on high-grade deep house, and the In The Bag series of floor-friendly catalogue favourites. There's naturally plenty to get the blood pumping throughout, from the thrillingly off-kilter Afro-house rhythms of Mike Agent X Clark's 'My Journey Thru Afroism', and Javontte's sensational recent single 'Soul People', to the sparkling synths of BRS's 'Chance Not Choice' and the rushing, jazz guitar-flecked summer house swelter of Groovement Inc's 'Firstdraw'. Further highlights come courtesy of Bittersuite, who swap broken beat for jazz-funk fired deep house on 'Curbed Communications', and Ourra, whose 'Can't You See' is a brilliantly bouncy and bumpin' slab of early morning goodness.
Review: Detroit dee house don Javontte first joined forces with Stroud's Situationism label earlier this year, contributing a killer cut to the multi-artist 2Up2Down Volume 3 EP. The JMarsFrank Project sees him deliver his first fill EP for the imprint, and it's genuinely a doozy. Our undisputed highlight is 'Soul People', a Moodymann-esque chunk of organic deep house haziness in which gently spacey synths, drowsy but soulful vocals, rubbery bass guitar and starry keys ride a rolling, laidback but energetic groove. The EP includes a near 11-minute extended version, which is little less than sublime. Elsewhere, 'Moon Over You' is chunkier and sweatier, with bolder beats and heavier bass amongst the headline attractions, while 'Like 9' is a sparkling and spacey slab of intergalactic deep house warmth.
Review: Originally scheduled for a December release, here at last come the remixes for a Situation/Andre Espeut collab that first landed back in November. The original sat somewhere on the mod-soul-acid jazz spectrum, but the remixes take us down a more uptempo route. Fingerman's Version Excursion gets the ball rolling and has something of a laidback, Nang-style nu-disco feel, before Soulfuledge bring us a percussion-led, Afro-tinged house rerub. Groovement Inc's take sits towards the broken beat end of the soulful house spectrum, before Ash Reynold steps up with a Balearic-leaning deep house take that for this reviewer is the pick of the crop.
Review: A split EP here from West Country nu-disco stalwarts Situation's Situationism label, with Birmingham's Danny Kane and Brussels crew Groovement Inc supplying a track apiece and BRS (also sometimes known as British Rhythm Services) remixing both. This fairly extensive list of cooks have come up with a broth that most definitely isn't spoiled, and that's actually remarkably coherent: all four tracks operate in the same kind of hazy, blissed-out soulful house territory as Dave Lee's The Sunburst Band, with 'Whispers' featuring a female vocal and 'Hxl' biting a chunk from a David Bowie interview. Classy stuff that will repay repeated listening.
Review: Vocalist Andre Espeut has appeared on so many Situation releases that we're genuinely not sure if he's officially a member of the band or not! Here they hook up once again, and suffice to say if you've dug any of their previous outings you'll probably be feeling this one too. Situation's uniquely soulful take on contemporary disco/boogie is in full effect on the original, a Vocal Reprise will please the more creative jocks, Ron Basejam drags us into a sweaty basement on his druggier, chuggier rub, and finally fellow scene stalwarts Chevals come with a mellower take that lets the vox and strings shine through.
Review: The idea behind Situationism's new "2Up2Down" series is devilishly simple. Each volume contains two tracks a piece from a pair of artists, in the case of this debut release West Country stalwarts BRS and Brighton-based Frenchman L'Aroye (real name Thomas Arroyo). It's the latter who kicks things off with "Best Girfriends (Soulful Mix)", a superb, gospel-sampling number that adds layers of rich instrumentation to a wonderfully bumping beat. Arroyo returns later in the EP with a groove-based Dub Mix that wisely makes more of his ear-catching synth stabs and the killer bassline. BRS's "Chance Not Choice" is a little more loose-limbed and synth-heavy than some of their cuts, sitting somewhere between proto-house, electro and deep house. Frank Situation's accompanying remix smartly re-casts it as a sprightly chunk of synth-heavy nu-disco.
Review: West Country heroes Situation have kept it local on their latest EP, which offers up a suite of previously unheard re-rubs of Andre Espeut hook-up "Beyond Compare" by Bristol-based house hero Sean McCabe. It starts with vocal and instrumental interpretations built around warming, mood-enhancing chords, jangly piano riffs, unfussy beats and the kind of slick, ear-catching electronic bassline more associated with Atjazz productions. Then McCabe offers up a superb "Vocal Reprise" take that sounds a little "fuller" and more energy-packed (thanks in part to his use of more urgent-sounding vocal snippets and grandiose chord sequences), as well as a brilliantly dreamy and locked-in Dub that sounds a little like one of Frankie Knuckles' classic remixes. The final bonus treat is definitely worth some special attention too.
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