Review: Burial is back. Yes, after four years away, he's not only ambushed us with THAT collab with Four Tet and Thom Yorke, but now he springs a three track EP on Kode9's Hyperdub imprint upon us too! The eponymous "Street Halo" is a delectable, crackling 4/4 roller with buckets of emotion and texture. In other words, it's the Burial of "Archangel" fame, which we all know and love. "NYC" is the urban retort, bristling with echoes of thunder, murmurs of traffic in the distance, jingling keys, it symbolizes the minutiae of everyday existence and is underpinned by slouching beats with a small, eerie and discernibly mournful voice wailing on top. Final track, "Stolen Dog" pairs smudgy piano keys with terse, ticking beats, all shrouded in an ethereal shimmer, much like Burial himself.
Review: Edu Imberon dips his toes into the waters of pop music on "Inside". The bassline is lazy but somewhat malevolent and is supported by thundering claps and a sweeping synth that divebombs in over the arrangement like a hungry flock of seagulls. Yet despite this resolutely underground backing, Imbernon makes space for Triumph's breathy, androgynous vocals and a trippy synth that oozes melodies. The remixes push "Inside" to a poppy place; Kellerkind's version contains a fluid electro bassline and some spacey synths, with the vocal turned into an effortlessly narcotic experience, while the Niko Schwind version has a distinctly 80s flavour thanks to its 808 drums and new romantic synths.
Review: The fourth volume of Noir Music's solid Second Chances & New Romances series offers up more bright-eyed, bushy-tailed deep house for contemporary dancefloors. There are seven cuts to choose from, starting with Larse's nu-disco-tinged, Julio Bashmore-inspired "Those Of You". Finnebassen delivers two squidgy, eyes-wide-shut groovers, with the R&B-sampling "Touching You" being the obvious pick. Elsewhere, Timos cracks out the alien melodies and analogue basslines of "One of a Kind", whilst Hector Cuoto mixes wobbly bass and shuffling beats with Adonis samples on confirmed basement bumper "Lost Keys". As usual, all the material is likely to put a smile on the face of all but the most forthright miserablists.
Review: It's been a fair old while since the last full-length from French techno pioneer Olivier "Oxia" Raymond; in fact, his only previous album was released eight years ago, way back in 2004. Tides Of Mind bears little resemblance to that set, which bristled with aggressive electronic intent. Instead, Raymond delivers at set that borrows as much from deep house and Germanic minimalism as traditional techno. Of course, there's the odd trip into skewed downtempo pop territory (see the dreamy Mesparrow collaboration "Travelling Fast") and some deviation from the 4/4 template - see "Sway" - but for the most part Raymond keeps the vibe deep, melodic and surprisingly soulful.
Review: Joining us in doffing our caps to Danish DJ/producer Noir, whose enduring label celebrates five years in the only way it knows how - with a compilation highlighting the imprint's delicious back catalogue. 5 Years Of Noir Music showcases some of the finest slices of deep, minimal house music that positively drips with emotion; check the uplifting Nicolas Masseyeff remix of Hot Since 82's "Let I Ride", and Manuel Tur's killer refix of Larse's deep soul jam "So Long" for just two examples, but in all honesty picking out highlights is an exercise in futility as the entire package is just so strong.
Review: On one hand, it's quite a surprise to see one-time prog houser Guy Gerber throw his lot in with Seth Troxler's achingly hip Visionquest label. On the other, it makes perfect sense. Visionquest has long been obsessed with soft focus melodies and dreamy compositions, and "The Mirror Game" - a loose deep houser blessed with cascading melodies and progressive atmospherics - ticks all those boxes. "One Day In May" opts for a more old skool house approach, mixing shuffling, West Coast deep house percussion with woozy chords and heady vocal samples. Gerber rounds off the EP by dropping that most prog house of selections - a beatless ambient version of the comfy title track.
Review: German producer Sasch BBC arrives on the Sleazy Deep label with some disco-tinged minimal house in the shape of "Supersonic". The original cut is well worth checking, but the remixes are what elevate this package into the realm of "must-check"; Amine Edge & Dance beef up the bassline on their version, while NTFO adopts a shuffling, bleepy stance before FOG rounds things off with a truly emotive take smeared with stripped back, echoey atmospherics.
Review: Comprising the second half of their hotly anticipated album, this latest release from the widely celebrated house duo Session Victim showcases just why their groove is so well liked. Far from trying to be cool in their music, instead the kind of funk the German duo conjure up in their sample-heavy sound is pure and addictive, not least on "Push Come To Shove". It's not all party rockers mind you, as well demonstrated in the low slung hip-hop leaning of "Fine". With the summer looming this is a strongly advised addition to your sun-compatible arsenal.
Review: Leading on from early releases on Ajunabeats, Dutch duo 16 Bit Lolitas have since moved across to the equally colossal home country Armada camp, both for management and their own label Bits & Pieces. This collection of 10 full length tracks, Is the perfect introduction to the label and their unique progressive sound made famous by tracks like 'Nobody Seems To Care'. Although all on offer here is wicked, it's 'Goodbye Voodoo', 'Bless You' featuring The Funky Bastard, and 'Baby You', which all jump out to us.. Get stuck in this little lot.
Review: Comprising the second half of their hotly anticipated album, this latest slab of wax from the widely celebrated house duo Session Victim showcases just why their groove is so well liked. Far from trying to be cool in their music, instead the kind of funk the German duo conjure up in their sample-heavy sound is pure and addictive, not least on "Push Come To Shove". It's not all party rockers mind you, as well demonstrated in the low slung hip-hop leaning of "Fine". With the summer looming this is a strongly advised addition to your sun-compatible arsenal.
Review: Given the mystery surrounding this release - unnamed "well known London DJ/ producer" joins forces with (also uncredited) "star Bristol musician and vocalist" - it would be easy to let the music pass you by. Yet "It's You" is excellent - arguably one of the strongest Futureboogie releases to date. It eschews the label's usual styles in favour of a low-slung combination of sparse, Hot Creations-ish house rhythms, soul-aching vocals and Prince-ish 80s funk squelch. It's a great combination. Crazy P man Ron Basejam offers a deep and sunny house interpretation, whilst Bristolian housers Eats Everything and Christophe deliver a fluid fusion of disco percussion and bubblin', retro-futurist acid house.
Review: The slight misspelling of a famous 80s haircut aside (note to Jesse Perez: it's JHERI curl), this newie from uber-cool house imprint Hot Creations is undeniably fun. The lead cut is decidedly wonky - the main organ seems to enter the fray out of time, before getting locked in to the groove 20 seconds later - but bristles with late '80s hip-house intent. It has a real late night, warehouse party feel, and will no doubt prove popular with anyone who plays all night raves at illicit, backstreet locations. Flipside "Dejen De Corner Tanta Pinga" offers a darker, murkier take on late '80s Chicago house, all pitched-down vocals, bumpin' 909 bass and clattering analogue percussion.
Review: Amazingly, it's been eight long years since the release of Freerange's first Colour Series compilation ("Yellow"). A few things have changed in that time for Jimpster's label, but his commitment to musically rich deep house remains. That's much in evidence here, particularly on the contributions from Andre Lodemann, fast-rising starlet Mic Newman and Jimpster himself (whose woozy "Late Night Blues" is his best for some time). There's also a distinct old skool feel to some of the cuts, with Alexkid's percussive "Class of 95" and Milton Jackson's robust "DS1" offering plenty of vintage US house flavour. The real standout, though, is Arithmetic's' "Time", which sounds like a long lost deep house anthem.
Review: The US duo delivers a preview for their latest album. The title track occupies that middle ground between trance, ambience and downbeat that Telefon Tel Aviv have become known for as synths swell and climax and dreamy, seductive vocals unfold over crashing drums. Label owner Ellen Allien drops a dance floor-focused take on "Birds", with a sinewy bassline underpinning a warbling, squelchy acid workout. Mathew Dear chooses an entirely different approach; over a warm fretless bassline, Dear lets a wall of dreamy textures gush forth, propelling the dreamy vocals towards an inevitable climax. Finally, Cocteau Twins fans will be interested in "The Sky Is Black", as it features Robin Guthrie's deep tones, fused with trancey synths and glitchy rhythms.
Review: After the conceptual nature of Escapism, the recent Delsin album from the perma-brilliant Conforce, Mr Bunnik returns to the Clone Basement Series with the totally essential 24 EP. Recently the focus of a must read feature on the new breed of Dutch techno via our sister site Juno Plus, this release finds Conforce in deadly form approaching the art of the genre from different, equally sharp angles with precision results. Opening with "Grain" Bunnik pounds spectrally charged vocal groans with unrelenting layers of percussive intent and the increasing gurgle of analogue malfunction, whilst "Be There At Night" is looser in feeling, as jacking rhythms threaten to slip out of time amidst the intermittent granite thick rave stabs. On the flip recent Moustache Techno signee Gesloten Cirkel remixes the title track "24" shifting the dubby wormhole shuffle down a gear or two and introducing some delightful string plucked sensuousness.
Review: Ninja Tune have assembled a truly exceptional line-up of producers for this full remix album of Bonobo's Black Sands, with exclusives from Duke Dumont, FaltyDL, Machinedrum, Mark Pritchard, Cosmin TRG and Floating Points all shining very bright indeed. With such a stellar cast, highlights abound: Banks' adds a glacial chill to the Andreya Triana-vocalled "The Keeper", Cosmin TRG works "Kiara" into a bubbly and gut-wrenching Detroit fantasy while Floating Points lends a deep, jazz-step vibe to "Eyesdown". In contrast, and in full on hazy-juke mode (ahead of his forthcoming Planet Mu collaborations with Om Unit), Machinedrum kills it with his own steroid-popping mix of "Eyesdown", while Duke Dumont rounds off the album with the exquisite beatless time stretch of "Black Sands". Highly recommended.
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