Review: Italian breaks rejigger The Captain returns with two new excellent mash-ups on the latest Resense release - with "We Will Rock You" melding stadium rock with a canny Latin bassline, while Earth Wind & Fire's "Can't Hide Love" gets a similarly slow and South American makeover on "You Can't Hide".
Review: This is a proper dubstep release coming for your ears from Sub Audio, as they've gone down the always entertaining route of having two remixers do a rework of each track on a single. The originals this time around are from Soukah, who has crafted up two stunners. The first, Life Without Meaning' is built upon a gentle rise, a moonlit walk, up the mountains and into a world of fireflies and celestial arpeggios. It's a seriously vibey tune and it's done justice by Kodama on the remix, who stretches things out and gives it all that extra oomph in the kick drums. 'You Can Run Much Faster' is equally spooky, with eerie ambience coming from its whispered sample and stretched out piano notes, a vibe taken to extremes on Ourman's awesome, loping remix. Top work from the Sub Audio crew.
Review: Black Barrel's been a busy boi! Currently flexing on Dispatch and Headz, not to mention his hyperactive Leo Cap dubstep alias, this man's a machine and has been for some years now. The best thing is that the quality is always consistent. Four more cases in point: the hurricane soul and eerie emotion of 'Side That You Can't Hide', the rattling airy drums and subtle rave references of 'Love Line', the deep smouldering soul of 'New Era' and the timeless Soul:r style finale 'One Day'. There's no hiding from vibes like these.
Review: With Valentines Day just around the corner, Editorial changes tack and takes a step into the world of loved-up, slo-mo groovery. It's a smart move. They've got some great up-and-coming producers involved, with Matthew Kyle's pal Joseph Terruel and Aussie moustache man Rocco Raimundo both offering deliciously deep, spine-tingling rubs. The latter's epic, filter-heavy "Looking For You" is arguably one of the best things he's done to date - a sinewy, string-laden disco slow dance that should impress all but the most miserable of disco purists. Heion's "Run" and DJ Steef's "I Can Win" are gorgeous, too, offering loopy, bass-heavy grooves with just the right amount of lip-smacking charm.
Review: The ever-dependable 'Katakana Edits' series rolls on, and while this latest installment might not win PECOE any deep diggin' brownie points, it does pack some very serviceable dancefloor-friendly reworks of classic cuts from days gone by. Leading the charge for this reviewer is 'Ice & Snow', which does unspeakable but very satisfactory things to Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song', but elsewhere you get a fresh take on 'Jingo', 'Grandmaster Mash' fuses 'White Lines' with chunks of the rap from 'The Message', while 'Bold Sister' revisits James Brown's 'Bold Soul Sister' - leaving only the 60s deep funk source for 'You Can't Hide' unidentified.
Review: Tristan Hallis brings his "progressive traditionalist" DJ Boring project to Running Back for the very first time. It's a big look for Gerd Janson's label and Hallis has duly delivered a quintet of treats in his now trademark style. 'Beautiful Strangers', a dreamy, tactile and bleeping chunk of pitched up vocal-sporting dancefloor bliss, kicks things off, before Hallis opts for a bouncier, piano-sporting vibe on the rushing peak-time joy of 'Can't Fix a Broken Heart'. There's more of a sub-heavy, garage-influenced swing to 'When I'm With You (featuring Jasoer Tygner)', while 'False Attraction' is a locked-in treat that boasts two lengthy, saucer-eyed breakdowns. Hallis rounds off another rock-solid EP via the lo-fi breaks of 'Memories Fade'.
Review: This latest album-length excursion by Montenegran nu disco regular Sasha Mitich finds him largely exploring and expressing his love for all things 80s - perhaps never more so than on 'Someone Like You', which could have come straight from the soundtrack of some coming-of-age movie starring at least one of the Brat Pack. Elsewhere, 'Back To Funk' brings the 80s boogie vibes, 'Woman Saying' recalls the likes of Fern Kinney or The Captain & Tenille and 'Your Life' slips in some cheeky Bee Gees bites, but the standout by far is the ultra-funky 'Fancy Dancer', a rework of the Commodores cut of the same name from 1976.
Review: For reasons not made clear, the esteemed Gomma label collared Peaches and decided to record some cover versions of tracks from the back catalogue of the iconic Casablanca Records label. Purists might sneer at the mere idea of this concept but the end products are undeniably fun (and its refreshing to hear Ms Nisker actually sing as opposed to, you know, act like Peaches). Moullineux step up first with a burning punk funk rendition of Flashdance's "Maniac", whilst Telonius' take on Donna Summer's "Our Love" gets bonus points for having Mr Harold Faltemeyer on keys! Other highlights in the eight track include Munk's chunky disco funk take on the Stephanie Mills classic "You Can't Run From My Love" whilst the ever excellent Phenomenal Handclap Band embellish the Halloween standard "Walk The Night" with their own distinct brand of loose limbed funk.
Review: Given his productivity over the last four years, it's rather a surprise to find that "When You Find A Stranger In The Alps" is Mautits Verwoerd AKA Nachtbraker's debut album. Predictably, the sometime Heist Rand Dirt Crew producer is in fine form throughout, serving up an expansive, 13-track set that effortlessly flits between sparkling, melodious deep house floor fillers ("Flambo", "Randy"), reggae-tinged club tracks ("NSFW"), bouncy techno ("You Can't Run"), soul and disco-inspired mid-tempo shufflers ("The Dream Sequence", "Just Doing My Thing"), funk rock smashers ("Aliens") and a surprisingly large number of ambient interludes and MPC-driven beat-scapes. In other words, it ticks a lot of boxes whilst remaining enjoyable and entertaining throughout.
Review: Gatto Fritto set the bar high with his selections for last year's first "The Sound of Love International" compilation, so it's a thrilling surprise to find that this follow-up - featuring cuts selected by Max D and Ari Goldmann AKA Beautiful Swimmers - boasts an even more inspired track list. The Washington DC-based duo evokes the spirit of the Croatian festival behind the series via the synth-heavy Afro-Balearic bliss of Plunky's "African Sunset", the new age dancefloor shuffle of Svend Unseth's "Aquilla Aquela", the vintage deep house dreaminess of Mark Goddard's "Tiny's First Journey", the pitched-up R&B vocals and hot-stepping B-more beats of KW Griff's "Be Ya Girl" and the sparkling piano riffs and smooth New Jersey house grooves of Spirit Garden's "Electra City".
Review: To date, publicity shy, mask-wearing producer Hyenah has released a string of inspired EPs for the likes of Watergate, Freerange Records and Rise Music. Here he returns to the latter label with his most significant release yet: a long-awaited debut album made in cahoots with a long list of guest musicians and producers. After teasing us in gently with the pitched down, hypnotic wonder that is 'The Rite' (featuring beautiful vocals from Ernesto and the Basement Gospel), Hyenah sprints between heavily electronic Afro-house, 21st century kwaito/electro fusion, percussion-heavy tech-house, future jazz, glitchy late-night micro-house, soul-fired sunset house brilliance and much more besides. As debut albums go, it's a doozy.
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