Fall record reviews

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012 | Sounds

I haven’t posted that many reviews recently, so here’s a run down of some stand outs from the past few months.

First up, Theo Parrish teams up with Andrew Ashong on the most recent Sound Signature release, ‘Flowers’. Although Parrish’s touch can be heard on the title track, it’s certainly a welcome departure from his recent output. Ashong provides the two tracks on the flip, which are equally as catchy.

Andres follows-up from the popular ‘New For U’ release from earlier this year, with the second outing on his La Vida label, ‘Second Time Around’. A couple of tracks are updated and re-mastered versions of previous Mahogani releases - as to be expected all quality here and for me a better record than ‘New For U’.

Kyle Hall collaborates with Funkineven under the alias of Funkinevil on the latest release from Wild Oats. The a-side ‘Night’ is a raw acidic workout that’s reminiscent of Jamal Moss’ works - no holds barred on this one. ‘Dusk’ on the b-side keeps things mellower with it’s loose bass-line and keys - top quality jam.
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Last year Spanish label Downbeat launched its Black off-shoot, with the wonderfully odd ‘Avian Oasis’ from Juju & Jordash. For the labels second release, prolific Ukrainian producer Vakula, gives us two slow jazz inspired cuts, (’For Kira Nevis’ and ‘Curves’), both of which are in the vein of Moodymann’s productions. The b-side features the excellent ‘Lbeat’ which ups the bpm and can be heard on this recent mix.

Damon Bell’s ‘Nommo’ EP released via Deepblak, also fuses jazz with deep house to fine effect. The a-side gives us the 12 minute long ‘Pathways & Mindframes’, which sounds a lot like Pepe Bradock - obviously a good thing. ‘The Call Of NgKah’ sees Bell in beatdown mode, reminiscent of Reggie Dokes’ productions and ‘Heru’ is a wonderful jazz cut-up - heady stuff, that is well worth your time.

Another one to be heard on this recent mix is the unexpected release from Track Mode. Since it’s launch in the mid-90’s, Track Mode has been responsible for releasing some fine deep house records from the likes of Larry Heard, Theo Parrish, GU and Jovonn. After a few years absence Track Mode returns with a release from label head Brett Dancer. I’m not sure if this is new material or from the archives, but either way, it’s a great record. Hopefully we’ll hear more output from Track Mode soon.

Over the summer Fred P re-issued a few records on his Soul People imprint, including the excellent remix of ‘Come This Far’, which was originally released last year. I didn’t pick this one up at the time (opting for the full album release instead), so I snapped it up this time around. Finale Sessions also re-issued a couple of older Fred P tracks, albeit slightly different versions, on Finale Revisited Vol. 1. ‘Dawn’ and ‘Emotive Vibrations’ get extended this time around, both clocking-in at over 12 minutes, giving the tracks ample time to build - some of Fred’s best work to date.

Finale Sessions also gives us a split release from Chicago’s Hakim Murphy and Amir Alexander on the ‘New Roots’ EP. For myself this record is all about the two Amir Alexander tracks, with their tough drum programming, Atkins-esque bass-lines and emotive pads. Amir treads a similar path on the ‘Gutter Flex’ EP, the excellent debut release from Argot - both records are highly recommended. More machine driven funk, this time from Hakim Murphy who gives us ‘Wet Analog’, the second outing on Ike Release’s Episodes label. Raw, heady stuff here - if you picked-up the first Episodes then you’ll know what to expect. Also, be on the lookout for Episodes upcoming third release, “Astrodynamics”, from Ike and Hakim under their Innerspace Halflife moniker - top notch.