Review: The second instalment of Stolen Goods' Back to Back series brings together two stalwarts of the scene: Italian veteran Lele Sacchi and Italo-Spanish beat master Bawrut. Known for their contributions to the electronic dancefloor landscape, both artists deliver peak-time bangers primed for club euphoria. Bawrut's track showcases his signature blend of retro-future rave, drawing on his extensive experience with labels like Life & Death and Correspondant. Meanwhile, Sacchi, with nearly three decades of DJ experience, infuses his production with funky deep grooves and killer stabs, epitomizing peak-time monster attitude. With nods to acid house and electro-techno, this release epitomises Stolen Goods' ethos of delivering messages From Clubbers to Clubbers, promising dancefloor ecstasy for discerning audiences.
Review: Following the warm reception for the most recent Vokabularium release, label boss Denis Horvat once again joins forces with talented vocalist Lilli Ellen on the EP ‘Two Makes Everything’, a murkily earnest progressive house record building on indie pop and blues. The title track moves snakily, through watery grain-echoed synth plucks and brimming background pads, as Ellen pleas for understanding despite a newfound sense of determination in who she is. ‘Gone’, meanwhile, prefers a more plodding abstraction, held together firmly by a three-note stab.
Review: The second offering from Ascension on Wax sees label co-founder Lavan dropping four tracks of gently uplifting house that will seduce and tempt you on the dancefloor rather than batter you into submission. 'For The Love' featuring Manpaintinghouse is hazy and lightly jazzy, a skippy beat nailing it down, before the chunkier four to the floor of 'Folk Song' paves the way for more luxurious instrumentation and some sassy spoken word. Flip it over for the teasing, swirling 'Daamn' and a Black Eyes remix of 'For The Love', which slows things down a notch and takes sonic scissors to the vocal narrative. All four are great and, despite being on the mellower side, or tailor made for DJ use. Top notch all round.
Time To Let Go (Two Soul Fusion Afro House instrumental mix) (8:35)
Time To Let Go (beats) (8:34)
Time To Let Go (Two Soul Fusion Afro House mix) (8:11)
Time To Let Go (Expansions NYC remix instrumental) (4:05)
Review: Last summer, veteran singer/songwriter Mike Lindup dropped 'Time To Let Go', a delicious fusion of synth-pop, Afro-pop and dreamy soul that was set to feature on his long-promised follow-up to 1990 album Changes. Now Masters at Work man Louie Vega has got his hands on it and delivered a suite of fresh, club-ready reworks. Vega's EP-opening 'Expressions NYC Mix' does a great job in wrapping Lindup's original vocals, fluid pianos, chords and squelchy synth-bass around a snappy house groove, subtly re-framing it for peak-time floors. The 'Two Soul Afro House Fusion' mix is arguably even better, with Vega adding layers of delicious instrumentation to a Tony Allen-inspired Afro-house beat. Throw in a couple of instrumentals and a handy 'Beats' version and you have an excellent package.
Review: DFA presents a special 12" release from New York's no wave pioneers, Liquid Liquid, paying tribute to the band's profound influence on the label. This double A-side features revitalized versions of their iconic tracks. The first side offers a dynamic rendition of 'Bellhead,' recorded by James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy in 2004. It's an intense percussive journey, overflowing with marimba, drums, and an array of bells, transforming the original's laid-back groove into a vibrant, energetic workout. On the flip side, we have an unreleased version of 'Optimo,' re-recorded by Liquid Liquid in 2008 and then remixed by Glasgow's Optimo (Espacio), the duo named in homage to the track.
Review: Eight further sonic spirits are conjured on the seventh edition in Damian Lazarus' annual compilation series. Emphasising deep house and techno grooves with a hypnotic flavour, the procurement here is exemplarily brooding; Dino Lenny's 'I Have Sampled Father' marks a sure turn away from the openers' cleaner-cut mesmerisms with a smoky, funk-inflected haze, bringing rhythm guitar and paternal murmurations to a surreal montage. The monologuing mood continues on the equal highlight that is Upercent's 'Where Are You', whilst Enamour's 'Jackpot' rounds out the show with the record's only brightly-lit minimal triller. The record is marked by sensuous, distant, familiar voices throughout.
Review: Locklead has been laying down classy house music for the likes of Pleasure Zone, Rawax, Unknown To The Unknown and Hot Haus, so you know he means business. After this sterling run of singles he's stepping to Up The Stuss with his debut album Square One, which deals in eight richly rendered cuts of contemporary tackle that sum up everything he's achieved to date. There's a pervasive deepness at work on 'Light Of Day' which draws you in from the get-go, while 'Bumpin' Headz' revels in shimmering, bouncy chords and Detroit flavoured strings pads. 'Hunting' has a more inquisitive quality as it courses through minimal-tinted grooves and synth riffs, while 'Plants & Astronauts' takes a more cosmic approach to the tech house formula. We could go on but you get the idea - this is house music through and through, presented in pristine technicolour for maximum satisfaction.
Review: The Master at Work that is Louie Vega has been a music-making machine all his life but in recent years has continued to reach new heights with various different projects. Here he is back on regular label Nervous with various different versions of his tunes 'Joy Universal' and 'Igobolo.' 'Joy Universal' (feat Two Soul Fusion) is classic Vega - soulful house music awash with Latin influences, loose-limbed percussion and funky basslines. And that template is tweaked over the ensuing tunes, with glorious pianos, jazzy grooves and tropical rhythms all making for a fine EP.
Review: Theo Parrish has green-lit a couple of back catalogue reissues from his Sound Signature label this month and this one originally came back in 2010 and found him on production duties and Bilal Love on the vocals. The Melloghettomental EP is an archetype Parrish offering - dusty, lo-fi beatdown and house fusions with muted but meaningful chords and aching vocal hooks. You get all that on blissed-out opener 'Can't Keep Running Away', superbly soulful live bass work on 'U Bring Me Up' and heavier, more griding grooves but still sublime vocals on 'Why Wait'. The title cut is an off-grid mix of sci-fi melodies and diffuse chords, shimmering drums and low slub bass. Sublime.
Silat Beksi & Soyro - "Shout In 30 Seconds" (7:22)
Last Pines - "Sway" (7:04)
Fedo - "Lena Told" (6:42)
Review: Juuz Records box up, package and release the fifth edition in their vinyl only series. Silat Beksi, Soyro, RWN and Zlatnichi are the latest artists to be spotlit, and all of them deliver a seamless minimal techno experience, teeming with tics and fidgets, the four-piece sonic equivalent of a gut microbiome. Usually, we like to home in on the oddest tunes and we'll certainly indulge the impulse here; Silat Beksi and Soyro's 'Shout In 30 Seconds' makes impressive use of gurgly, subharmonic dream-voices, swabbed across the otherwise sticklike mix, like glue holding a skeleton together. Equal technical and ambisonic itches are scratched on Fedo's closing 'Lena Told', whose transitional vocal scramblings play back like furtive rumours spread through a fragile transmission chain.
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