Night Owl (Secondcity extended remix) - (6:21) 127 BPM
Night Owl (Jansons extended remix) - (6:55) 125 BPM
Review: Annan's Ki Creighton is resident DJ at Carlisle's Uber club and runs the respected Under No Illusion imprint - which in recent times has delivered wicked music by Jay De Lys, Yost Koen and Cloonee. He strikes out on his own here for Manchester's Kaluki with a bit of help from Shyam P on "Night Owl" - a serving of bouncy and pop-inflected tech house in the vein of Hot Creations or Repopulate Mars. There are some terrific remixes included worthy of your attention too: Secondcity's extended remix is tough rolling groove action for the main room at peak-time, while Jansons extended remix is a right banger featuring a powerful rhythm section reaching near tribal moments.
Review: The annual Toolroom statement of intent for Ibiza gets off to a raucous start with the good time house Camelphat remix of Fatboy Slim's "Right Here, Right Now". Despite this, the compilation isn't all about peak time pleasure. It features deeper nuggets like the sun-kissed deep techno remix of Bicep's "Opal" by Four Tet and the hypnotic break beat techno Kolsch remix of Nic Fanciulli's "Saying". However, Ibiza 2018 doesn't depart too far from the script, and label boss Mark Knight's "We Get High From the Music" is classic Toolroom - a tough tribal workout descending into filtered, vocal-heavy nirvana. That said, they deserve plaudits for keeping a close eye on new artists and the niggling acid and chimes of Peggy Gou's "It Makes You Forget" is testament to that.
Review: Mark Knight & Co. are straight up with their latest title - but considering their current 15th birthday celebrations, these guys can do whatever they want - they hardly do wrong anyway! House, Tech House, Techno Vol 2 does exactly what is says on the tin with a whopping 62 tracks and three continuous mixes - each dedicated to said subgenre. From that massive remix of Fatboy Slim's "Right Here, Right Now" by current scene favourites CamelPhat, Saved main man Nic Fanciulli's collaboration with Damon Albarn on "Saying" (Kolsch remix), label head honcho Knight himself steps up to deliver the pumping and white noise filled "We Get High From The Music" (feat Mr V) and the inimitable Danny Howells is always welcome - particularly with a track as electrifying as the recently released "Isolar".
Review: Alongside the likes of yourself, you can bet that Mark Knight & Co. will be also be a known presence at Amsterdam Dance Event in 2018 and indeed they'll be well prepared with the appropriate tools - as this killer compilation proves. Highlights on this annual edition come from Maceo Plex - whose remix of "Nervous Tics" (feat Holly Walker) by hot British duo Maribou State takes you to the dark side, label chief Knight's massive rework of Sterling Void's eternal anthem "It's Alright" (feat Paris Brightledge) will surely get the hands in the air, as will Adesse Versions' edit of legend Kerri Chandler's "The Boom Can" and many others over the collection's five dozen tracks. To take you through every part of your trip, the album comes complete with three perfectly crafted and perfectly primed mixes.
Martin Books - "Flitzepulver" (original mix) - (6:35) 128 BPM
Various - "Ibiza 2018 Closing Party" (continuous DJ mix 1) - (1:18:53) 124 BPM
Various - "Ibiza 2018 Closing Party" (continuous DJ mix 2) - (1:19:01) 125 BPM
Review: With the same certainty that the leaves will turn brown and fall from the trees, autumn sees the release of Toolroom's closing party album. It's the label's annual state of the (house) nation address and 2018 is no exception. While this year's edition contains a healthy smattering of feel good house - the most impressive exempts being the vocal grooves of Weiss' "Feel My Needs" and Illyus & Barrientos' "MEA" - there are also more adventurous variants on offer. These include Peggy Gou's tweaked acid take on Shakedown's "At Night", the chord heavy Dusky take on KiNK's "Perth" and the cut-up, abstract "Pale Blue Dot" by rising lo-fi house artist Ross From Friends, which demonstrate that this year, Toolroom is thinking outside the box.
