HOUSEREVIEWS
Alone Ovum 8.0
dOP
Kisses Circus Company
9.0
Damien Van de Sande, Clement Zemstov and Jaw, aka the envelope-pushing, certifiable Parisian threesome dOP, drop two tracks of unadulterated digital inspiration for Circus Company here. Title track ‘Kisses’ cloaks you in velveteen pads, unsettling synths, undulating bass and a slinky spoken word. But ‘Your Feelin’’, a collaboration with San Francisco’s Pillow Talk, is as good a piece of house music as we’ve heard in ages. Moody, groove-sodden, and boasting a vintage vocal par excellence, this is simple, sturdily executed genius.
Bicep
You/Don’t Do It Aus Music 8.0
Production pair Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson have been making waves on labels like Throne Of Blood out of Brooklyn, and now for Will Saul’s Aus Music. This sees them in collaboration with fellow Northern Irish producer Ejeca for the track ‘You’, and Serge Santiago in his Omar Odyssey guise for ‘Don’t Do It’. The former is more on the bass rave tip, but Steffi turns out a frisky and frankly gorgeous version in the classic house mould. ‘Don’t Do It’, meanwhile, is the killer, a swelling garage behemoth.
Dusky
Flo Jam EP Dogmatik 8.0
Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman are tough to get a handle on. Their album on Above & Beyond’s Anjunadeep label erred on the side of epic, yet they’re currently mining a rich seam of deep garage grooves, this for Alex Arnout’s Dogmatik being a case in point. Whatever they’re up to, their production is whip-smart, ditto their obvious command of melody. There’s much to love about
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Pezzner drops a stunner of a remix for Josh Wink’s Ovum (and Wink’s own aren’t too shabby either) of Dirty Channels & Bugsy’s ‘Alone’, featuring oddball vocals from Amina.
Jump ‘Chico’ Slamm
Galactic Alignment Rush Hour 8.0
this four-tracker, notably the robust title track and ‘Every Day’, a skippy, sun-drenched pirate radio anthem.
Frank & Tony
I Fall Frank & Tony 8.0
Frank & Tony are Freak ‘N Chic alumnus Anthony Collins and Francis Harris, better known as Adultnapper. Together, they launched their Frank & Tony imprint earlier this year, and this is the second release, a heart- achingly melancholic thing with a haunting vocal from Danish singer Gry Bagoein, last seen on Harris’ ‘Leland’ album. Dive head-first and bathe in it. On the flip is ‘Marigold’, all hypnotic dubby deepness with Bob Moses providing the vocals. It’s almost more like bleak pop, but it’s most certainly house music.
Konrad Black
Devastator Get Weird 8.5
Get Weird is the second label floated by Lee Burridge and Matthew Dekay, following the success of their All Day I Dream imprint. And judging by this first salvo, courtesy of Wagon Repair man Konrad Black, history is about to repeat itself. The inky black chug- monkey ‘Devastator’ will take out the trash wherever it’s played, with early adopters including Francois K, Damian Lazarus and Ivan Smagghe. Over on the flip, there’s ‘Tubby’ from the label bosses themselves, a stuttering 5am monstrosity. Do buy it, won’t you.
Lee Webster
Freaky Bitches EP Glasgow Underground 8.0
What Lee Webster might lack in the finer points of seduction (“fuck ‘em all day, fuck ‘em all night”, says title
track ‘Freaky Bitches’), he makes up for in other ways. This generous four-tracker for Kevin McKay’s Glasgow Underground covers many bases. ‘My Fantasy’ is all jabbing synths and rolling bass, while ‘How We Did It’ dices with Montell Jordan and somehow comes out on top. Meanwhile, ‘Detroit Cheeky Things’ is an utterly irresistible deep disco re-edit. Essential.
Sir Vinyl Instinct
Growing History Itchy Pig 8.0
Don’t recall seeing this name on the New Year’s Honours List, but here we are with a knight of the realm dropping this for Itchy Pig Records. We should show a little deference in the wake of ‘Growing History’, a pad-laden slab of deep, ethereal house, which itself shows its own deference to the pulsing sounds of Chez Damier and Ron Trent’s legendary Prescription imprint. 20:20 man Moodymanc slots in two remixes, the ‘Dark Past’ version a slightly darker interpretation, and the ‘Happy Memories’ mix a little more ecstatic.
Till von Sein
Reworks 2 Suol
8.5
This is just showing off. An EP featuring Chez Damier on the remix tip would be quite enough, but this parachutes in Boo Williams and his SJU crew (which includes the equally legendary Glenn Underground) too. Good lord. Boo and SJU take on ‘Non Existent Love’, while Chez turns out three — count ‘em! — versions of ‘Out Of Love’, variously introducing acid, warm pads, jazzual synths and slamming Chi-town percussion. As you’d hope, the pedigree here is mirrored in the quality of the material.
www.djmag.com
AKA Sagat, responsible for ‘Fuk Dat’ and the essential Slamm Project on Cajual, Baltimore veteran Slamm drops the previously unreleased ‘Galactic Alignment’. Slamming.
BEN ARNOLD
ben.a.arnold@
gmail.com
Dirty Channels & Bugsy
QUICKIES Noir & Haze
Around Defected 8.0
Some fine additional mixes of Noir & Haze’s big room anthem ‘Around’ here, courtesy of Miami’s mighty Murk, Rudimental and ViVa Music’s Habischman. Murk do some damage.
Various
Tactics Volume One Tact Recordings 8.0
A lovely release from the fledgling Tact label, featuring selections from their burgeoning stable, including Manchester’s Isherwood, Per Bojsen- Moller and Luke Black.
MR G REKIDS
01. POLLYN ‘Sometimes You Just Know (Moodymann Remix)’ Music! Music Group “This is soooo bad ole skool nu skool. A cracking remix and on-point.”
02. N’DINGA GABA & DJ SPEN ‘Until You feat Marc Evans (Deep
In You Dub)’ Quantize Recordings “Love my soulful house, and the drive on this is great. You need a good system for it though.”
03. OMAR S ‘Sex (c.g.p Remix)’ FXHE “Omar really upping his game here with this retro feeling track, and the remix
is on fire.”
04. WARM SOUNDS ‘Leave Him Alone’ Warm Sounds “Straight up sleazy house. This just works for me, all night long, all night
long.”
05. NIKOLA GALA ‘Only (Ryan Elliott Remix)’ Rekids “This is one deep dark moment and a very special one too. Bass-heavy funk.”
06. SHD+SAN ‘Wax No. 30303’ Hardwax “I’m a bass man, so I get this reggae workout. Nasty.”
07. SAUCE HOLLANDAISE ‘Spargel-Tarzan’ Spargel Trax “Record day special. Hope you found this nugget of twisted funk.”
08. MR G ‘Bucketlist’ Phoenix G “Phoenix flying high and I’m looking after my label. This low and funky piece is
for all those who have lost someone.”
09. THEO PARRISH ‘Black Music’ Sound Signature “Like it says on the tin, ‘Black Music’. Yeah, I’m feelin’ dat, will you?”
10. MR G ‘Remember This’ Rekids “From the new album ‘State Of Flux’. Yep been busy, and this one does it for
me.”
MONEYSHOT!
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