HOUSEREVIEWS
said loudly on a bus through Shoreditch. But seriously, this is almost totally Mexican, from the producers Puente and Akbal to the label, Akbal’s own house music concern. The fabulous Cari Golden adorns the thing with her silken vocals, while the peerless Pole Marcin Czubala, he of Your Mama’s Friend fame, goes deeper still with his very, very late night take on matters. It’s well cheeks.
Ohm
Tribal Tone (Remixes) Uknown to the Unknown 8.5
Uffe
Times All Pets
9.0
Last seen adorning the brilliant Tartelet label, Amsterdam’s prodigious Uffe Christensen debuted on Catz ‘N Dogz’ label Pets last year, and now he’s back for a second bite. The results are peculiar and fabulous. ‘All I Did’ defies comparison, building with his own vocals until it swells with organs. It’s a wondrous thing indeed. ‘Pretending’ is layered with Herbert-esque klings and klangs, while ‘Valentine’s Card’ is emotive and lush, dismantled and reassembled electronica executed effortlessly. Acid Pauli and Nu take on ‘Pretending’, losing none of its singular oddness, while Jon Convex humps ‘All I Did’, turning it into a pulsating dancefloor leviathan.
Braille
The Storm EP Glass Table 8.0
Braille is half of dubstep pairing Sepalcure, the half known as Praveen Sharma to be more precise about it. This for Hypercolour’s excellent spin-off Glass Table — of rude cover and sumptuous picture disc fame — is more akin to recent work he’s done for the eminent Rush Hour and Hotflush. ‘The Storm’ is frisky, Inner City meets UK funky, layered liberally with reverb. ‘Me & U’ maintains the classic feel, but with a woozy, tranquilized edge. ‘At A Glance’ is enveloping and relentless, a disorientating immersion in sound. Fabulous.
66 Jamie Jones
Moan & Groan Crosstown Rebels 8.0
What with his plans for world domination with Hot Natured, it’s a wonder Jamie Jones has the spare moments to continue his own affairs. But continue them he does, and ‘Moan & Groan’ is solid, a spooky, robotic, darkly funky 5am workout. Threatening to upstage him entirely is Ben Westbeech under his Breach alias, taking on ‘Tonight In Tokyo’. The results are totally stunning. Then there’s the small matter of Cassius, aka Philippe Zdar, who turns in his own towering version. But it’s not a competition, eh chaps?
Kon
All About Youx Soul Clap Records 8.5
DJ Kon, aka King of Nothing, aka Christian Taylor, turns out a joyous, soul-cleansing release for the Soul Clap dudes, nailing just what the Bostonian party persons are all about. Kon has decades of form, known for his sprawling record collection and hook-up with Amir and DJ Muro for BBE, and this is every bit as soaked in dancefloor knowledge as you’d hope. ‘Runaway’ is a melancholy house anthem, all pianos and love-lorn vocals. Meanwhile, ‘Love Youx Forever’, only available on the vinyl, dissects Patrice Rushen’s classic ‘Forget Me Nots’, but in a throughly classy fashion.
Miguel Puente & Robbie Akbal feat Cari Golden
Woman You Want Akbal Music 8.0
This is totally Mexico, as Nathan Barley might once have
Originally penned by Ohm (Alan Watson and Yogi Haughton) back in 1992 — it was blessed with a rather legendary Sabres of Paradise mix — ‘Tribal Tone’ gets a re-release and a thorough re-working on Unknown to the Unknown. The original Ruffneck and Mo’ Better Grooves versions most welcomely appear on this invigorated re-issue, but there’s also new interpretations from Marquis Hawkes, who gives it some garage welly, and Capracara, who gets super-tough with subtly incorporated rave synths and a sublimely wobbly lower register.
Ryan Murgatroyd
Bantwana’s Piano Tenth Circle 8.5
You can’t possibly call South African producer Ryan Murgatroyd on his ambition. Likely to be known as ‘that piano track’ for the bulk of the summer, this moody, intriguing thing is nothing if not ambitious. Contemplative, melancholy, oddly uplifting and sometimes slightly unsettling, ‘Bantwana’s Piano’ will lodge itself in your psyche from the first listen — a towering achievement in the landscape of modern house music. It’s possibly unique, but certainly the most haunting track of the year so far.
YNK
The Joint Polytone
8.5
Yannick Hofmann, the man who is very much behind YNK, drops this wonderful oddity for the excellent Frankfurt imprint Polytone, with flagrant disregard for the norms of house music. It’s slow, it’s doubtless challenging to dance to, but still it’s soaked with sunshine, occasionally bursting through with dream-like vocals from whichever soul rarity it samples. What the original may lack in the dancefloor department, Lauer injects with old school house stabs and a digital bassline.
www.djmag.ca
Pocket EP The W Label 7.5
Wild as ever, DJ W!ld delivers four dangerous dancefloor tools for his very own The W Label, each sturdier than the last. These are not to be trifled with. You have been warned.
Lopez
Shame EP Silence In Metropolis 7.5
Paraguayan producer P. Lopez graces the second release from Silence In Metropolis. Watch out for the dizzyingly impressive Matt Fear remix, and the Matches re-rub of ‘Keeping Up’.
BEN ARNOLD
ben.a.arnold@
gmail.com
DJ W!ld Rainbow In My
QUICKIES Move D
Wanna Do Curle Recordings 7.5
Originally penned to be given away with the 50th edition of German magazine Groove, Curle has nabbed it, along with additional track ‘Nautique’, and released it. Both tracks are pretty ace, to be fair.
Sui Generis
Sui Generis EP Mansion Music 7.5
Dark funkiness with flashes of Detroit and Chicago from this three-tracker, the first on newly-inked imprint Mansion Music. It appears to mean business.
A SAGITTARIUN ELASTIC DREAMS
01. TJ KONG & ERIC DE MAN ‘Luid (Mark Broom Mix)’ Art “Great to see the Art label back again, and this Mark Broom remix is amazing,
really raw and powerful with the most dreamy pads.”
02. RUFF CHERRY ‘Errand of Mercy’ Elastic Dreams “Beautiful electronic track from Cork’s Ruff Cherry. The whole EP is very warm
and melodic. Music for the head and heart.”
03. BLEAK ‘Synonym (Deepbass Remix)’ Animal Farm “Great new label from Scotland, this Deepbass remix is a real moody yet warm
production.”
04. A SAGITTARIUN ‘A Lucid Dream (Terrace Remix)’ Elastic Dreams “Stefan Robbers did a super job at remixing my track. It’s got that unmistak-
able Terrace sound, very futuristic and with great depth.”
05. JUSTIN BERKOVI ‘With You, I’m Me’ Djax Upbeats “I’ve been listening to lots of the Djax catalogue of late, there’s some truly
great and under-appreciated music there. This Berkovi track is a fine example.”
06. INLAND ‘Nightfall’ Figure SPC “Another funky techno workout from Inland, always with some great drama
and atmospherics.”
07. STEPHEN BROWN ‘Tangent (Markus Suckut Remix)’ Animal Farm “Another one from Animal Farm Records, a killer remix from Suckut here, again
the warmth of the sound always cuts through.”
08. SPACE DJS ‘Grey Matter (Mark Broom Remix)’ Recode Musik “Mark Broom delivers a precise and driving remix, I’m feeling the funk on
this one!”
09. MYLES SERGE ‘White Noise Safari (Aubrey Remix)’ Translucent “Aubrey recently remixed for my Elastic Dreams label, so I had a good dig
around his recent work, and this remix is very cool, very raw and heavy sound.”
10. FUNCTION ‘Gradient I’ Ostgut Ton “Very deep sound from Function. So layered and textured, with a very
cinematic approach, excellent piece.”
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