Singles, Reissues & Comps (2010 Catch Up!)

Thursday, July 8th, 2010 | Sounds | No Comments

I’ve been slacking off on posting reviews in the first half of this year and there has been a lot of great music released, so here’s a few bits and pieces that I’ve been feeling from the past few months.

Dutch label, Rush Hour, have been on fire this year. Not only have they been putting out new forward thinking music, but they’ve also been responsible for re-releasing classic hard-to-find house and techno. The much talked about ‘Frictionalism’ release from earlier this year, collects Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir’s works from 1994-2009, which is essential, as is the self-titled Virgo album and the Rick Wilhite ep’s. The more recent Boo Williams release collects the best tracks from three ep’s released on Residual in the late 90’s. If you enjoy Boo’s releases on Relief and Djax then this is a must. As for newer material, Tevo Howard delivers his updated acid house sound on the double 12″ ‘Crystal Republic’. Although nothing mind-blowing it’s definitely a grower and the crisp production sounds great. Also worth checking out is the 12″ from FaltyDL ‘All In The Place’. FaltyDL delivers his usual unclassifiable sound that brings together 2-step, house and techno.

If you’re into Nu Groove and the deeper side of NY house, the International Dee Jay Gigolo re-press of the Bobby Konders collection ‘A Lost Era In NYC 87-92′ is a must, complete with cuts like ‘The Poem’, ‘The Future’ and ‘Slackness and Sax’. Another must is Ron Trent’s ‘Altered States - Blak Tech Society’, which collects the three tracks included on the original 1990 Warehouse release, as well as remixes and other recordings from that period. Absolutely timeless and both collections providing much needed relief to original vinyl versions.

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Updating those deep sounds is Oakland’s Aybee and his Deepblak label. The forthcoming ‘Blaktropolis Vol. 2′ showcases new material from label regulars, Blaktroniks, Afrikan Sciences as well as Aybee, and also highlights some new artists; especially interesting is 17 year old Shen 7, who’s track ‘Void’, sounds beyond his years. Aybee also provided the thoroughly engrossing ‘Ancient Tones’ release on Seattle’s Further Records. There’s been a lot of interest around Further and their highly limited cassette only releases. At first I didn’t quite get the cassette only thing and the limitations that goes along with the format, however, a recent Resident Advisor article on Further provides some sound reasoning. For those without a cassette deck, it looks like Further’s vinyl experiment has worked out and we’re going to see the excellent ‘Ancient Tones’ on vinyl.

One of the key players of the genre defying sounds coming out of London at the moment, Floating Points, delivers (yet again) another massive record. ‘Peoples Potential’ has been doing the rounds for quite a while, however the flip side (’Shark Chase’) is where it’s at. It’s relentless jacking drums and bass, sound like it came straight out of mid 80’s Chicago. Absolutely devastating when played on a proper system. Other tracks meant for big systems, Levon Vincent’s ‘Double Jointed Sex Freak’, John Robert’s ‘White’, Mike Dehnert’s Dico EP and of course Wax 003.

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Tags: Aybee, Chicago House, Deep House, Deepblak, Detroit techno, Floating Points, New York house, reviews, Ron Trent

BBE Business

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | Sounds | 4 Comments

BBE have been on form in recent months with some great releases. First up is Night Dubbin‘ - a fine collection of disco, boogie and proto house, compiled by Dimitri from Paris (and with one of the discs mixed by The Idjut Boys). The compilation focuses on dubbed-out (re)mixes from the likes of Francois Kevorkian, Larry Levan, Paul Simpson and Shep Pettibone. The Idjut Boys do a great job on the mix cd but the reason to own this compilation is the 21 unmixed songs - all of them complete gems. Given that the original 12″ versions of many of the tracks collected here are quite sought after, this compilation is essential for anyone that has even a passing interest in disco and the roots of house. Included in the liner notes are interviews with Francois Kevorkian, Paul Simpson and John Morales, who give the back-story and explain their techniques used in creating the dub mix.

Read more and listen…..

Tags: Arthur Russell, BBE, Disco, Floating Points, Francois K, Innervisions, Karizma, Larry Levan, New York, Robert Hood, Theo Parrish