Review: Paper boss Ben Davis once more dons a cape and, as his Flash Atkins alter ego, comes to Paper-affiliated Sprechen with two tracks that are best summarised as "deep house and disco collide in the leftfield". 'Love You Again' tops rolling, Afro/tribal-inspired drums with a jaunty lil' synth riff and the merest hints of a treated reggae-style vocal, while 'Die Kiste' leans even more heavily towards the experimental side of the street with its complex, fractured rhythms and squelchy analogue synth-bass. The latter's one for the more leftfield floors only, but 'Love You Again' may have slightly broader appeal.
Review: It's been nearly three years since lesser-celebrated Norwegian producer Kohib delivered the Itchy Kitchy People EP. Here he returns to the Manchester-based label with two more chunks of peak-time Scandolearic disco. As its title suggests, "Italovest" sees him pay tribute to the muscular throb of arpeggio-driven 1980s Italo-disco, though it's non-stop nature, foreboding feel and druggy intensity is arguably more in keeping with later Dutch interpretations of the sound (as well as the space disco works of Hans-Peter Lindstrom). He takes a slightly different approach on mid-tempo bonus cut "Parlais Vous Francais", peppering a mid-tempo electronic disco groove with ricocheting drum hits, glacial '80s synth-pop melodies and glassy-eyed chords.
Review: Sprechen main man Chris Massey is Mancunian through and through, hence using the title of his new two-tracker to offer some light-hearted advice to his city's new generation of techno producers. Lead cut 'Inside My Head' does offer a few nods to mind-mangling German techno and tech-house productions of old, with echoing electronic riffs, wavey acid lines and angular motifs riding a tidy drum machine rhythm and Teutonic bassline. He joins forces with Dan Wainwright on the brilliantly titled 'Gnome Terrace', opting for a more outwardly Balearic, sun-soaked sound rich in warming bass, early Chicago house beats, attractive synth sounds and sparkling piano flourishes.
Review: Tromso, Norway's Kohib is back following up the great "Talk To Me" on Paper Recordings earlier in the year with "Itchy Kitchy People" on Manchester's Sprechen Music, a classic house jam with a catchy bell melody and some crazy 808 claps going off rapid fire style. Oh and that bassline is seriously bumpin'. Second offering "Yakkatakk" has an Oriental aesthetic about it in terms of melody, but the bumpy bassline and rich pads could've made it equally at home on a label like Freerange; and that's a compliment, right!
Review: The Anglo-German duo who made a splash with the funky, percussive 'Rolling Jazz' earlier this year return with a two-tracker on the Manchester-based label Sprechen. 'One Two One' is another deep funker, centring around a hefty, lolloping bassline that's paired with brass fanfares, disco strings and a filtered female "let's get onto a one-to-one situation" vocal, while the accompanying 'Got To Have Your Dub' is a livelier affair with saxophone and trumpets much in evidence, a funk guitar squiggle that loops throughout and a "baby, got to have your love" male vocal snip. The latter nudges towards disco-house, but in pleasingly non-cheesy fashion.
Review: Based in Jakarta in Indonesia, where he works as a tattooist and graphic designer by day and DJs by night, Bayu Putra Pratama AKA Baypoet has just one previous release to his name that we know of, on the Metropolis label. Now he comes to Manchester's Sprechen with a two-tracker that blends house, disco, prog and Italo influences. It's probably the latter that gives 'Outer' most of its flavour - just check out those analogue synth throbs. It's the title cut that stands out for yours truly, though - mostly thanks to some old school hands-in-the-air pianos that render the mid-section a truly uplifting experience.
Review: Manchester's Indigo Jung returns to Sprechen, the leftfield house/disco/Balearic label headed up by Paper A&R Chris Massey. 'Mean World' takes a proper 60s/70s soul diva vocal and places it atop a backdrop that marries fluttery disco geetars and Balearic-style atmospherics to a bassline that's hefty and resonant to the point of being almost junglistic in feel, the end result being a surging, looping cut that'll keep bodies moving nicely. The accompanying 'Aldi' is a more traditional-style, string-drenched disco-houser that could have come out at any point in the past 25 years, but still packs plenty of dancefloor punch with its intricate slap bassline, chopped string stabs and layers of white noise.
Review: It was way back in 2016 when DJ Steevo made his first appearance on Manchester-based Sprechen. Here he returns to the imprint for the first time since with two tracks of house-friendly nu-disco science. First up is "Giagirat", a warm and groovy affair that smothers a toasty deep disco groove with spacey chords, jaunty Rhodes stabs, glassy-eyed piano riffs and intergalactic electronics. Steevo switches to synth-heavy mode on "Once In A Lifetime", where his lazy, sun-kissed guitar motifs and comorting chords offer a perfect accompaniment to mazy synth solos, echoing machine drums and a gently pulsing, Italo-disco style arpeggio line. By the time the dreamy breakdown homes into view you'll be having a glassy-eyed "moment" or two.
Review: ISO City is a new collaborative project from Sprechen main man Chris Massey and pal Elliot Lion, inspired by their joint love of Italo-disco, EBM, vintage synths and the soundtrack to sci-fi movie 'Tron'. On opener 'Light Cycles', those influences are expressed via bold, throbbing, pulsating, reverb-laden synthesizer lead lines, arpeggio-style sequenced bass, unfussy machine drums and star-fall melodies. On 'Master Control Programme', it's tactile synth-bass, fizzing electronic melodies, wide-eyed chords and more bubbly melodic motifs. The results are ear-catching, entertaining and enjoyable, suggesting that the ISO City project is only just getting going. More, please!
Review: Since debuting under his given name in 2017 (before that he delivered solo productions as Heretic), Eskimo Twins member Timothy Clerkin has released must-check music on Ransom Note Records, Insult To Injury, Throne of Blood, and now Sprechen. His brand of psychedelic nu-disco tends towards the cosmic and otherworldly, and that's exactly what opener "War Wolf" delivers: think tumbling analogue synthesizer melodies, chugging grooves, raw bass and Enigma-style synth-flute lead lines. In contrast, "Acid Drive" is a bold and bright affair build around wild TB-303 acid lines, baggy piano riffs and bleeping, eyes-closed melodies, while closing cut "Bleak House (Clerkin's Reprise Mix)" - made in collaboration with "Night Giants" - is a moody, pitched-down take on dreamy, acid-flecked breakbeat house.
Review: What we have is the debut offering from a new project starring Sprechen boss Chris Massey. Atop a backdrop that's one-part Balearic to one-part early house to one-part Morricone-esque soundtrack vibes, guest singer-songwriter Bay Bryan lends his dulcet tones in the form of a heavily treated, pop-style chorus while Massey himself waxes poetic and philosophical in spoken word form. If the Pet Shop Boys ever made a comedown album, it might sound something like this... but if the vocals are a bit too much, you can still make good use of the accompanying instrumental.
Review: So far in his career, St Petersburg-based Nikita Kropachev AKA Diskette has done his thing almost entirely for Russian stable SOVIETT. Now though, following recent excursions on Rare Wiri and Silhouette Music, he comes to Manchester's Sprechen with a three-tracker from the dreamy, Balearic side. The title track is a hazy, synth-y affair built for slow groovin' in the afternoon sun, the slightly more upbeat 'That's Not True' throws together Italo synths, muted piano chords, a looped, reverb-heavy "love me, love me" female vocal and more, while 'Honey Melts' drops the tempo right down and is one for the morning after...
Review: Last May Ben Arnold popped-up on Paper Recordings with "I Can't Control Myself", a prime slice of dubbed-out late night deep house wonkiness that marked his debut as Lovebreak. Here he transfers to Sprechen, an imprint helmed by Paper family member Chris Massey. Our pick of the bunch is "Love Me Love You", a thrusting slab of lo-fi sweatiness that sees Lovebreak pepper a sturdy drum machine groove with alien electronics, gnarly analogue stabs and acid-style motifs. "Ecstasy" is as saucer eyed and retro-futurist as you'd expect given the title - think bold, shimmering chords, bustling beats and hazy female vocal samples - while "Who Knows Where Your Love Goes" sticks a deliciously deep and dubby bassline beneath more clicking machine drums and deep space pads.
Review: Elliott Lion is the DJing and dance music production alias of Editors keyboard player and guitarist Elliott Williams, and here he comes to leftfeld Manchester label Sprechen with three tracks that draw heavily on early 80s synth-disco for inspiration. 'Together Free (Disco)' has hints too of boogie and early 90s-style Italo-house, title track 'The Creeps' itself takes us down a more cinematic, coldwave-like path, while 'Parrot' is more in-your-face and driving, riding a motorik drum beat with multiple layers of synthesizer chuggery. It's all very angular and indie-dance in feel... but then what did you expect?!
Review: Manchester hero Chris Massey is back with the Pink Flamingo EP. He serves up some high octane disco on "You Are Devine" featuring none other than The Emperor Machine aka Andy Meecham of Chicken Lips fame. "Floor To the Four" is pretty jacking electro house for the peak time hour. Berlin's ROTCIV steps us to deliver an even more acidified take on things also with his killer remix.
Review: Disco from the far side is the order of the day here, as Italian producer Luca Vera looks to the cosmic/Italo era for inspiration. 'Red M' opens with chugging drums, then drops some big techno stabs to get your attention before settling down into a sparkling, Carpenter-esque synth groove that mutates constantly as the track progresses. The Space-like 'Trashtrem' is a more eyes-down affair that could work on nu-disco, progressive and even tech-house floors, and that gets more and more 'epic' as it goes, paving the way nicely for the more cinematic closer 'Race 83'.
Review: Manchester's Chris Massey (not to be confused with Newcastle D&B producer Dan Masseye) serves up two tracks on local label Sprechen that were produced in collaboration with Indonesian artists. 'City Affairs' (featuring Dita) is a dark, techy houser topped with a whistle line and an Afro-style vocal, while on the funked-up 'Two 2 Tango' (feat KimoKai), with its poppy female vocal, fat-ass basline and cheeky lifts from Dupree's classic 'Brass Disk', Massey hits that sweet spot where 'credible' and 'commercial' are in perfect balance, and as such could have a summer hit on his hands. A dub of the latter, 'Put It On (Two Less Tango), completes a fine package.
Review: If you're looking for some mixed-up disco-tech goodies to allieviate boredom and spread vibes during these troubled times, we'd heartily recommend this EP from former Paper Disco and Fatty Fatty Phonographics artists Pablo & Shoey. Check first the EP-opening "Vocal Mix" of "Do It Backwards", a gloriously kaleidoscopic affair that flits between bursts of disco-sampling joy and percussion-laden, acid house-inspired nu-disco wonkiness. The EP also includes an alternative "Air Raid Dub" from Pablo which expertly tools up the more trippy and acid-fired elements of the track while retaining some of the disco cheeriness present in the pair's original mix. The release's other cut, "Shoey's Acid Trip", lives up to its name by sounding like a Maurice Fulton outing as Syclops after a sweaty fight with a Roland TB-303.
Review: Hailing from Manchester, Gina Breeze is a DJ and producer whose sound captures the creativity and innovative spirit of her home city - a true staple of the European electronic music scene. For local imprint Sprechen, she serves up her new one called "1am" which is an acid house era influenced jam with a charismatic vocal from Jakarta's Kallula of KimoKal. This is followed by the hypnotic tribal house groove of "Mantra" with its powerful polyrhythms hammering the message home. Fitting then that the final track is entitled "Hypnotic" which goes back to the late '80s with its jacking warehouse vibe of The Windy City.
Review: Balearic veteran James Bright - formerly one-half of Lux alongside Steve 'Afterlife' Miller - flexes his electronic muscles on this three-tracker for Sprechen. 'These Machines' itself kicks things off, fusing elements of Italo and vintage acid into an angular concoction that's sure to inspire the thowing of a few shapes out on the floor. 'Vibration' then takes us into proper Balearic territory, being a piano-sprinkled head-nodder powered along by a pleasingly chunky bassline, while 'Hot Metropolis' offers up a more contemplative, late-night variation on the overall synth-y theme. Forward-thinking stuff as ever from the Manchester label.
Review: Ivan Fabra, a 30-year veteran of the Spanish scene, comes to Manchester-based Sprechen with three tracks of chunky, synth-heavy house that pack elements of both prog and disco, and as such should have quite wide-ranging appeal. The EP opens with the drifty, spangly and strongly Italo-flavoured 'No One Knows', before along comes a huge, squelchin' 303 bassline to power along the far more housified 'Kosmische', a 5.5-minute chugger built for small-hours floors. Completing the EP is 'Little Pigments', which is in a similar stylistic vein to its predecessor, but a tad lighter on its feet.
Review: Danny Russell and Ronald Christoph - two Berlin-based producers who both record separately, but also operate as something of an on-off duo - join forces once more on this stylistically varied disco three-tracker for Manchester's ever-checkable Sprechen label. If it's authentically 70s-sounding vibes you're after, then you'll find them in abundance on the title track, with a soulful male vocal backed by Brass Construction-esque horns, chorused female BV's and a warm, velvet-y bassline. Elsewhere, 'You Can Do It' is a tuffer, looping disco-houser, while 'Night Dancer' is a pacier peaktime workout with more of an early 80s feel.
Review: The Sprechen team have delivered a tasty selection of futuristic house-driven taste on this latest link up with Acolyte, unveiling three dancefloor ready bubblers with a tonne of original nostalgic influence woven throughout. First up, we take in the title track 'Helter Skelter', a steady, moog-driven chop through old school drum processing and euphoric pad textures, before the swirling synth patterns and distant vocal reverberations of 'Kill The Bill' sweep into play. Finally, 'Sirens' slows the pace down massively with a much calmer combination of moog-like bass notation and atmospheric texturing, rounding off this one with a dash of additional finesse.
Review: A third outing here for Sprechen main man Chris Massey's The Thief Of Time project, which sees him exploring more downtempo and filmic musical pastures. As with previous releases 'Imposter Syndrome' and 'Pavement Soul' there's a guest vocalist on mic duties: in this case it's Allison Rae from Idaho dreamwave duo Causeway, so it's perhaps not surprising that 'Find Each Other' draws heavily on the more contemplative side of 80s synth-pop for inspiration. There's an accompanying Instrumental that might find its way into a wider range of leftfield/downtempo/Balearic sets, while a Radio Edit completes the package.
Review: Having previously appeared on Sprechen's 'Edgy Future Discotheque' compilation, newcomer Ed Mahon has been given the opportunity to return to the label for a first full EP. He's embraced the opportunity, too, first delivering a moody Depeche Mode-meets-acid-and-dark-disco workout (the excellent 'Lights Go Down'), before wrapping echoing piano motifs and reverb-heavy spoken word snippets around a metronomic electronic disco groove on 'Don't Be Serious'. Arguably best of all though is closing cut 'Say You Care', a gorgeous, sunset-ready combination of Italian dream house piano riffs, bustling bongos and wide-eyed female vocal snippets. It has already received plays at Ibiza institution Café Mambo, so we can safely say that it's definitely Balearic.
Review: Sprechen's latest release is something of a doozy, all told. It comes from font-of-all-musical-knowledge and top notch DJ Bill Brewster, who shares four killer cuts from his personal stash of re-edits. It really is all killer, no filler, with "Love Hard" - a brilliant revision of a spacey, throbbing, tongue-in-cheek classic that dispenses with almost all of the most familiar bits and concentrates on the track's sleazy groove and intergalactic synths - hitting home particularly hard. Opener "Carpet Warehouse" offers more spacey synths, camp vocals and killer grooves, while "SOS" is a near perfect revision of a low-slung, post punk-era dub disco obscurity. Speaking of post-punk era goodness, we'd suggest checking out EP closer "Wide Awake Club", which could well be the strongest edit on a very strong collection of reworks.
Review: Releasing mainly through his own Oddball Records imprint, Liverpool producer Dan Wainwright's stock-in-trade are meandering, hypnotic excursions that meld together influences from disco, Balearica and global music. He serves up more of the same on this four-tracker for Paper-affiliated Sprechen, with 'I Love You' having a singer-songwriter-ish feel, 'Nothing...' coming on like an early 90s The Beloved out-take, 'Feel' taking something of a Balearic kitchen sink approach and the almost folk-y 'I Hope That Joy Will Come To You' closing the EP on a more chilled-out note. Saturday night peaktime stompers these are not, but if you dig all things downtempo and leftfield then dive right on in...
Review: Way back in the early 2000s, the Unambombers released a swathe of their own fine re-edits - all prepared to detonate the dancefloor at their long-running Electric Chair night - via a limited, vinyl only label called Electric Souls. This fine EP offers up some of those killer cut-jobs on digital download for the very first time, concentrating on those crafted by Justin Unabomber AKA Only Child. 'Cut #1' and 'Cutz #2' are heavy, driving and life-affirming stomps through electrified disco-funk territory, rich in heady horn blasts, low-slung bass and gnarled guitar riffs. 'Cutz #3' breathes new life into a Parliament/Funkadelic style P-funk number by a highly obscure artist, while 'Cutz #4' is another heavy stomper that joins the dots between disco-funk and synth-funk. Simply essential.
Review: Sean Delahay is a lad from Stroud in Gloucestershire who moved to the regional metropolis of Bristol around five years and has never looked back since, releasing a string of house and disco EPs on labels including King Street and Future Disco. Here, he comes to Stretford stable Sprechen with two Italo/cosmic-leaning cuts that'll appeal to fans of arists like Prins Thomas and Todd Terje and labels such as Palms Trax and Running Back, while remix duties are taken care of by a couple of certified local heroes - label boss (Chris) Massey and A Certain Ratio legend Martin Moscrop.
Review: French born, Manchester-based DJ and producer Lena C. loves digging and sharing sounds from all around the world on her Reform Radio show. Her latest release comes courtesy of local imprint Sprechen titled Promenade. "Shokran" is a blissed-out balearic instrumental that's perfect for road trips or watching sunsets alike, while the hypnotic yet subtle polyrhythms on the downbeat affair "Breeze" provide an equally impressive backdrop for summertime chilling, and finally the slo-mo deep chug disco of "Azur" closes it out in style.
Review: Veteran French electro-disco dude Damon Jee is back and we're glad to report he's still keeping things goth. The Summer No Summer EP features two slow and deep body music cuts. The title track is minutes of depressed electro-pop, in the coolest possible way, whilst "Cuir Rouge" is a suspense-filled slice of menacingly throbbing new beat. Also the former is given a post-punk overhaul by Hardway Bros, whilst the latter reappears as a livelier Giorgio Moroder-esque "Il Est Villaine Cuir" reinterpretation.
Review: Sprechen's sixth release comes from Neon Amish, a collaborative project from Curley Sue and Lee Stevens that debuted on the latter's Luv Shack imprint earlier this year. In an attempt to capture the zeitgeist, both "Tranceptor" and "Interstate '95" pay tribute to the early days of psy-trance and acid techno, layering psychedelic electronics and ragged riffs on top of thunderous beats and throbbing arpeggio lines. The accompanying remixes boast similarly mind altering intent, with The Gameboyz going in particularly hard on their titanium-clad rework of "Tranceptor". Chris Massey joins forces with The Emperor Machine himself, Andy Meecham, to deliver a deliciously analogue-rich interpretation of "Interstate 95" that could well be the EP's standout moment.
Review: A stalwart of the Athenian nu-disco scene, DJ Steevo knows a thing or two about putting on a party. These two new cuts on the Sprechen label once again prove he's on fine form. "Karica" starts things on an upbeat tip - Beginning as lively filtered disco jam (think French Touch or even Groovejet) before expanding into trippier Balearic territory. "Talking Machines" meanwhile is a slower, cool and moody funky head nodder. SHMLSS then arrives to make the title track even trippier on a remix filled with lashings of 303 goodness whilst DJ Rocca gives "Talking Machines" and slick electro-boogie makeover.
Review: Spain's Gameboyz are a trio of electro-breakbeat enthusiasts, who are just about the only ones doing it right these days. Coming through for the young Sprechen label, they deliver the excellent "Off The Wall", the sort of tune that Plump DJs would have been playing back in the day, and one that even manages to deliver some fine waves of 303 acid; "Electric Boogaloo" feels like the slower, housier companion that offers something deeper and more cerebral. There's remixes of both: the former is versioned by Italy's Fabrizio Mammarella into a slick tech-house bomb with the same acid licks giving it extra power, whereas the latter sees Neon Amish transform the tune into a spacey piece of prog house. Check it!
Review: Since debuting on Futureboogie's fifth Summer Riot EP back in 2016, Field Theory has delivered a handful of quietly impressive releases. Here he returns to Sprechen, a label he last graced in the winter of 2016, with another rock solid collection of club-ready cuts. Opener "Acid Party", a bustling late night jack track where waves of psychedelic TB-303 lines crash over bustling machine drums and foreboding synth stabs, is probably the pick for peak-time plays, though the more angular and trippy "Wobble" is not far behind. For more all-out acid thrills check the bumping and low-slung Gina Breeze remix of "Acid Party", while Mitch Davis's sub-heavy remix of "Wobble" is a bouncy, stripped-back treat.
Review: UK house veteran and former Hacienda resident Jon Da Silva's production CV is a lot shorter than you might expect! Here, though, he comes to Chris Massey's Manchester-based Sprechen with four solid jams that blend house, disco and electro influences. Opener 'Mutebird' is the missing link between Balearica and Detroit techno, 'Dub Is All We Need' looks to the classic sound of mid-80s Chicago for inspiration, 'Mancunian Way' is a floor-friendly deep houser with bright chords/stabs and buzzy, rave-y bass, and finally 'Drones In The Key Of Chi' is an instrumental nu-disco workout, with subtle production nods to the likes of Moroder and Robotnick.
Review: Chris Massey's Manchester-based Sprechen serve up a four-tracker that touches on a range of leftfield electronic styles. 'Altered Beats', in its Original form, sits somewhere between Italo, electro and footwork, and features a distinctly Carpenter-esque synth topline as well as a hint of 303 squelch, while 'Future Express' suggests an unhealthy obsession with Kraftwerk. Timothy Clerkin and Massey himself then take the title track into full-on acid house territory with a remix that recalls the output of Urban Records back in the day, while Rolf Royce & Oddvar Bra?k drag 'Future Express' onto deep house and nu-disco floors.
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