BEN ARNOLD
ben.a.arnold@
gmail.com
guitars, deep, girthsome pianos, a deeply sexy vocal from Brazilian singer Gab Cervallos and a beat that won’t quit. On the mix are PBR Streetgang’s Bonar Bradberry and a house version from Horse Meat Disco’s Severino, but the original and the dub are frankly more than enough.
No Artificial Colours
Crying Wolf EP Madtech 8.0
Alison Moyet Changeling
(youngTEE Remix) Cooking Vinyl
9.0
Following a clutch of woozy and weird releases on World Unknown, Southern Fried and a couple of extremely solid vinyl-only bootlegs (his blissful Balearic re-touch of Rihanna’s ‘Rehab’ in particular), south Londoner youngTEE dissects erstwhile Yazoo lady Alison Moyet and reassembles her almost unrecognisably to darken dancefloors. A thunderous, bowel-shaking, filling-rattling kick, pulsing Chicago bassline, organ stabs and clattering percussion propel this deep, moody anthem into earnest party territory. So handle it with care.
Footprintz
Uncertain Change Visionquest 8.5
Immaculate synth-pop from the Visionquesters Footprintz, aka Montreal’s enigmatic Clarian North and Adam Hunter. ‘Uncertain Change’ is yearningly melancholic, a spine-tingling seven minutes of near-perfection. It’s all warm pads, gently plucked Roxy Music guitars and then soaring blissfulness come the climax. Maceo Plex treats the original with respect, pumping it up a little for the clubs, but keeping its fragility intact. Meanwhile, Matthew Dear — in his Audion guise — makes it spooky and epic with his ‘Loves You’ mix. Class all the way.
John Dimas
State of Mind EP Dame-Music 8.5
John Dimas returns for another outing on Bloody Mary’s Dame- Music imprint, following his last appearance on the ‘Klub Klub Elite Vol. 3 EP’, via recent releases on Claap and La Vie En Rose. ‘State of Mind’ is a straight jacker, layered with some subtly hypnotic arpeggios. Simple, but so very effective. ‘Overthink’ is a little more ambitious, boasting all the hallmarks of a Chi-Town classic. But produced in 2013. By a Greek. In Berlin. It’s no mean feat.
Marc Romboy & Blake Baxter
The Art of Sound Systematic
7.5
Nice to see this Dusseldorf- Detroit axis back in action, and in such belting form too. ‘The Art of Sound’ twists up a disco loop in the classic filter style, augmented with some rattling hats and tough beats. ‘Version 1’ teases the sax-heavy loop out deftly, where ‘Version 2’ goes all Cassius circa 1998, heaping on the compression to devastating effect. It’s not new, but damn it, if this doesn’t get a dancefloor oiled up, then it’s time to consider jacking it in.
Munk
Misterio Gomma 8.0
Oh my. This is dazzling modern disco from Gomma’s head honcho Munk — aka Mathias Modica. It sounds like something Alfredo might have been playing in- between dropping Led Zeppelin at Amnesia circa ‘84. There’s riffing
Kerri Chandler’s Madtech imprint is really taking out the trash of late. This latest from No Artificial Colours (Lewis Wright and Ryan Ellis) pretty much nails the sound that both Madtech and Chandler are currently extolling. ‘Crying Wolf’, with vocals from Alex Mills — she of Miguel Campbell’s ‘Something Special’ — is pitch-perfect (US style) garage. ‘Restless Souls’, with Crosstown alumus Cari Golden, is bumpier, laden with 909 percussion under Golden’s spooky vocal. ‘Love’, featuring Sheff, keeps the momentum burning. Very, very classy indeed.
Oliver Achatz/Janis/ Homeboy/Dynamodyse
We Make Music Vol. 2 House Is OK 8.0 A gorgeously, wonderfully Balearic thing here from the Zagreb/Frankfurt axis that is House Is OK, injecting purest vitamin D into our scurvy-racked systems. Oliver Achatz boots things off with the creepingly anthemic ‘L.A. Cure’, all innocuous synths, which breaks fabulously come the middle. Homeboy’s ‘Kim’ is all bass slapped to within an inch of its life. The ethereal houser ‘While You Were Dancing’, by Janis, somehow ups the stakes of an already essential release. Well played there.
Weichhold & Namito pres HickHack
Speicher 74 Kompakt Extra 7.5
Great Stuff main man Rainer Weichhold joins with old pal from the Kling Klang stable Namito for this two-tracker on Kompakt’s spin-off imprint Kompakt Extra, joining a ludicrously impressive number to have released in the venerable ‘Speicher’ series. ‘Hick’ is pure hypnosis, weighed down with portamento bleeps. ‘Hack’, meanwhile, ups the funk some, throwing in dirty disco horn stabs and enough cowbell to keep Christopher Walken happy for the rest of his days.
www.djmag.ca
HOUSEREVIEWS QUICKIES
Josh Wink
Balls Ovum 7.5
It takes balls to call a track ‘Balls’, and it seems that Mr Wink has them. Two, at least. This is his first release on his own label Ovum in four years, and it’s ma- hoosive, as they say.
Justin Jay
Static EP Dirtybird 7.5 A Dirtybird release with a colossal bassline might not seem unusual, but this is unusually colossal work from Justin Jay. It really is very large indeed.
Luke Solomon
Say Something Classic 8.0
Classic head boss man Luke Solomon lets Akufen loose on his latest, and the results are pretty ace. It’s bumpy, sax-y, organ-y party mayhem, in fact.
Marcin Czubala Immediately Above
EP Your Mama’s Friend 7.5
The excellent Marcin Czubala drops some more solid, solid house music on his own imprint Your Mama’s Friend, complete with a robust version from Audiojack.
SASSEMOODMUSIC
01. MARIO BASANOV ‘Slip Away (Daniel Bortz Remix)’ Moodmusic “Two of my favourite producers in one package, and on my own label — you
gotta be proud eh?”
02. GAB RHOME ‘The Shave’ Stranjjur “Some amazing music coming out of NY right now and Gab Rhome just blow my
mind every time I hear their new stuff. It’s got hit written all over it.”
03. GARNICA ‘Fool Again’ Galaktika “Amazing album from Venezuelan Rafael Garnica on this wicked imprint from
Barcelona. True musicianship and a very well-produced debut album.” 04. SPANK SPANK AKA DJ PIERRE ‘Your Inspiration (Satoshi
Fumi Re-Edit)’ White “Killer edit work from my buddy Satoshi from Japan — a really well done edit of a classic house tune, well worth a proper release if you ask me.”
05. SHOW-B ‘Sax ‘N’ MPC (Original Mix)’ Compost “Some kickass drum programming and low-key synth work from one of the
upcoming deep house guys in Germany. Love the groove on this.”
06. SASSE ‘XChange’ Pooled “Something new from myself, with a wicked remix from German Stu Patrics and
a collab with Mr Pooley himself.”
07. INTER GRITTY ‘Pelleworm’ 1:53.2 “Some Swedish almost-techno here, rocking down the nu-school Chicago way,
but with a nice Scandinavian twist.”
08. DRAGONFLY ‘Dragonfly (Sasse Remix)’ Moodmusic “I usually don’t chart my own stuff, but so proud about this. A bit more techno
and a bit more edgy than my usual productions.”
09. CLÉ ‘The Jam’ Local Talk “Might be the most hyped-up label at the moment, but they do good stuff
indeed. Here Berlin stalwart Clé delivers a solid, simple floor destroyer.” 10. KICKDRUM INDUSTRIE & JACQUES RENAULT ‘Full
Moon’ Jackoff “More NYC-based stuff here on this obscure but so good label from Berlin. Trust me, this is good.”
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