BLACK LOOPS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Prolific Italian maestro Black Loops returns to Freerange with Always Moving, a debut album steeped in high-grade dance heritage. Drawing on over a decade of production, he moves beyond club tools to something more personal and musical, with guest appearances from Harvey Sutherland, Byron the Aquarius and Marlena Dae. Rooted in funk, soul and 90s grooves, these are rich, warm tracks with fully authentic swing i with much of the percussion played live by the artist himself. The result is fluid and human, from the broken beats of 'CDMX' to the shimmering chords of 'Detroit Love Letter'. Marlena Dae adds her touch to several standouts, including the disco-leaning 'Electrical' and hazy deep house of 'Pleasure Ride'. Even at its most downtempo, like the closing 'Good Bye Berlin', the album stays focused and melodic. A confident and expressive full-length that shows how far Black Loops has come while hinting at where he might head next.

Review: Black Loops directs a welters' worth of experience into Always Moving, his debut full-length for Freerange. Far beyond club tools, this is a sensitive elusion of watery neo soul instrumentation and distant broken beat jazz, and we're not surprised in this breath to learn of Black Loops' own background as a drummer. Nor is it any wonder either that such auteur's disco house regals such as Harvey Sutherland, Byron The Aquarius and Berlin vocalist Marlena Dae all appear on the record, through 'CDMX' to the ever so eerie, Erie-downstream deep house of 'Detroit Love Letter'. 'Electrical And LSD' takes after such influences as Metro Area's disco house shimmer, while tracks like 'Pleasure Ride' and 'Good Bye Berlin' further locks down the abiding nighttime tension - that least comparable part of his sound.

Review: Prolific Italian producer Black Loops continues his explorations of deep, groove-led house with the Experience EP. The release serves as a teaser for his forthcoming debut album, both of which arrive courtesy of the always on-point Freerange, and its label boss Jimpster kicks things off here with a rolling, Italo-tinged dub of Electrical, blending modular synth lines with dubbed-out vocals. Black Loops then flips the same track into a funk-fuelled workout, layering guitar licks and a weighty Moog bassline. On the reverse, Experience channels early 90s house with a sultry, Vogue-era feel, while Black Loops' Dancefloor Dub strips it back to a punchy, minimal groove built for late-night floors. Rounding things out is Inmasoul, a jazzy, deep house gem not found on the album.

Review: Second time around for Italian producer Black Loops' deep house tribute to his beloved Rome, which has become an in-demand and hard to find record since it first dropped on Freerange back in 2018. It's certainly one of the prolific producer's strongest releases, flexing a dusty, groovy at times pleasingly hypnotic take on late-night deep house. Check first title track '7 Hills', where jazzy Rhodes motifs, drifting chords and echoing jazz guitar notes ride a thickset groove, before admiring Mad Rey's chunkier, loopy and more locked-in peak-time interpretation. Over on side B, 'King Paul' is an even deeper and dreamier excursion in warm, bass-heavy dancefloor deepness, while 'Linda 38' offers an enticing blend of futurist electronics, jazzy keys, toasty chords and deep, analogue-rich bass.

Review: Funky deep house styles from Black Loops, who follow up the digital release of 'Hunger' in 2017 with a vinyl version a full 5 years later. The original is a moody, electronic, glissandric-Wurlitzing, deep house homemaker - unafraid of finding strength in the now relatively unfashionable yet true mode of lo-fi. Hugo XL and DJOKO provide just as solid yet sparse remixes.

Review: Shall Not Fade are in a real purple patch at the moment, and at the time they celebrate their 5th anniversary, too. This time they hand it over to Black Loops for a third outing on the label, and as ever it is high calibre dancing music. 'Mike The Dog' has elegant synth work that recalls early floating points over beats that sound like early Metro Area, but more house-y. There is also more punchy broken beat, sleek future house, crisp old school piano vibes on 'Dream2gether' and a kaleidoscopic melodic cut that will light up any party with 'Danse Sur L'Hardcore.'

Review: Whether they're operating on Toy Tonics, Freerange, Madhouse or NeoVinyl, Black Loops rarely fail to deliver the deep house goods. Predictably, the Italian duo's Shall Not Fade label debut is another quality collection of cuts. Our pick of a very strong bunch is probably "Badmanthing", a quirky chunk of rubbery deep house-funk built around a bold, memorable bassline, eccentric electronics and tipsy chords, though the skipping drums, meaty bass and tweaked New Jersey garage motifs of "Plastikhaus" are also hugely alluring. Elsewhere, "No Fear" is a notable fusion of bounding house beats, darting jazz-funk synth sounds and simmering synth-strings, while EP opener "I Know You" is a more classic-sounding slab of deep house cheeriness.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


Berlin-based Italians Gabriele Micheli and Riccardo Paffetti (aka Black Loops) have presented some great tracks over the last six years on labels from Toy Tonics to Gruuv and Madhouse, in addition to becoming staples of local imprint Neovinyl. "Arancini EP" comes courtesy of homeboys Quality Vibe, and the grooves on here (much like its name suggests), seem hard on the outside but smooth and saucy inside. It's the usual swinging' and boompty business you've come to expect from the label, especially on opener "The Leopol Swag". On the flip, we're loving the title track - a rolling after hours tech house (on the minimal tip) fare in conjunction with fellow Berliner Ed Herbst.

Review: Berlin-based Italians Gabriele Micheli and Riccardo Paffetti (aka Black Loops) have presented some great tracks over the last six years on labels from Toy Tonics to Gruuv and Madhouse, in addition to becoming staples of local imprint Neovinyl. "Arancini EP" comes courtesy of homeboys Quality Vibe, and the grooves on here (much like its name suggests), seem hard on the outside but smooth and saucy inside. It's the usual swinging' and boompty business you've come to expect from the label, especially on opener "The Leopol Swag". On the flip, we're loving the title track - a rolling after hours tech house (on the minimal tip) fare in conjunction with fellow Berliner Ed Herbst.

Review: Since starting their career with a couple of well-regarded EPs on Toy Tonics in 2013, Black Loops has been label hopping. This return to the German imprint follows four years spent churning out EPs for Gruuv, Neovinyl and, most recently, Pets Recordings. Opener "Le Mirage" is a bustling and bass-heavy affair, with melodic deep house pleasantries wrapping themselves around a chunky, U.S-garage influenced groove. The rhythmic skip and bass-heavy bounce continues on "Red Light", where fuzzy electric piano parts come to the fore, while "Sex (Part 2)" effortlessly joins the dots between the hazy loveliness of Italian dream house and the bustle of classic Kerri Chandler records. 'Sex", which boasts a wonderfully sleazy spoken vocal, completes another ear-pleasing package.

Review: NTThis EP on Milan-based label Stolen Goods is a great example of how house music can be both smooth and danceable at the same time. 'High Cutz Vol. III' is a solid EP that showcases the deep house talents of Italian producers Black Loops and Innocent Soul. The two original tracks 'Belive in U' and 'Destiny' are both bouncy and groovy, with catchy vocal samples and jazzy chords. The Pasta Boys remix of the latter adds a bit more energy and funk to the mix, while keeping the soulful vibe of the original.

Review: For their first release of 2018, Toy Tonics stalwarts Black Loops is joined in the studio by fellow Italian producer Innocent Soul, head honcho of the recently launched Strictly Street Sounds imprint. The EP's four tracks offer a perfect blend of the former's groovy, chunky deep house sound and the sample-heavy, Chicago-inspired disco-house jams favoured by the latter. Highlights include "Black Soul", a funk-fuelled peak-time jam rich in Hamilton Bohannon style guitar loops and elastic bass guitar samples, the James Brown break-fired weightiness of "Bang the Dancefloor" and the squidgy deep house funk of "The Flame", which boasts a particularly rush-inducing breakdown.

Review: Carlos "Carlo" Alvarez returns to Good Ratio Music for the first time since 2015, and this time he's got company. All three tracks on Intermission were co-produced by Black Loops, a Berlin-based Italian who has previously released solo material on Toy Tronics and Gruuv. All three cuts here are rich, loose and funk-fuelled, with the duo doing their best to combine carefully chosen disco and jazz-funk samples with their own beats and basslines. The real killer is arguably A-side cut "Venerdi", in which swirling strings and clipped guitars ride a loose-but-bumpin' disco-house groove. If you're after something altogether deeper, check the clicking drum machine percussion, gentle chords and bubbly electronics of closer "Domenica".

Review: The team behind upstart imprint De La Groove has done a fine job on this compilation style extravaganza, which features tracks from an impressive selection of hotly tipped producers. Highlights include the bouncy, shirts-off loop-disco of Cody Currie's "ACE, At The Point of Collapse", the super-groovy, jazz-flecked deep house warmth of Demuir's "Let's Get In It", the effervescent sweetness of Black Loops' summery roller "French Affair", and the fluttering flute solos of Hotmood's goodtime jazz-funk revision "Voyage To The Onda". The purest expression of jazzy, smoky deep house is provided by COEO, whose clarinet-sporting "Azzurro" is probably our pick of a very strong bunch.

Review: For our 5th release we are very fortunate to have Toronto-based artist Dan Only! Dan has previously released on New Kanada, as well as back-to-back EP's on Germany's Dirt Crew Recordings! We are proud to present Dan Only's "Love Saturates EP". Leading off the EP, we have the title track "Love Saturates". Shuffling hi hats, punchy drums, a hard hitting bassline, lush pads and a vocal to die for tie this opener together. We asked one of our favourite producers, Black Loops (Madhouse/Shall not fade/Toy tonics), for a remix of the title track. Black Loops turns "Love Saturates" into a seriously deep and spacey remix that works perfectly for late night sets! Setting off the B Side we have "Leading Questions", a snare happy slice of house music stacked with Dan Only's signature drum programming and keys that don't stop! For the final cut we have "Not That I Don't Care" Rolling drums, airy pads and a haunting vocal round off this stellar EP!

Review: Berlin's Toy Tonics crew are back with some of last year's exceptional highlights finally made available on vinyl for all you black wax junkies out there. On the A side of Top Tracks 06 we have the loveable Aussie maverick Jad & The on the loved-up disco loops of "Strings That Never Win", followed by London's Harry Wolfman (Dirt Crew/House Of Disco) with the lo-slung funk of "The Accord". Flip to the B-side where you will be treated to Italian duo Black Loops and their uplifting boogie-down jam "Mia Negrita" (feat Felipe Gordon) and ascendant Austrian Demuja doin' his thing as always on the sultry late-night groove "J On G".