Flash Forward Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Big release from the master of Italian Deep house Carlo Troja aka DJ Don Carlos, with eight tracks never released on vinyl taken from the 2010 released CD album The Cool Deep. This is the first volume. From the spacey deepness of "Voyage", his signature latin flair on the polyrhythmic madness of "House Of Blues" and the energetic bounce of late nineties style tech-house on "Equinox". Troja released under the alias on Italian imprints Calypso and Irma as well as The Aquanauts on US imprint Guidance in the mid '90s. Limited to 100 copies on coloured vinyl.

Review: Italy is most certainly an underrated nation when it comes to house and techno. All across the country, kids of all ages were going mad for the stuff when it first hit the peninsula back in the late 80s, and with it came a whole wave of producers who have never really gotten much credit. Until now, that is. The Experience, a short-lived project from Andrea Benedetti and Eugenio Vatta, released one EP back in a hazy, E-fuelled 1992 entitled Tubes. Flash Forward have repressed here, and its three tunes way ahead of the rest in every way. "Tubes" sounds like it could have been made this year, both in terms of stylistic execution, choice of sounds, and playful balance between house and techno - an unmissable tune! The live version is almost better, stretching out the groove across 7 minutes of charging, cerebral techno, and "Madcap" does no harm to extend this deep, organic strain of dance music, guided further into oblivion thanks to the help of a few hidden semi-breaks. Warmly recommended.

Review: Italy is most certainly an underrated nation when it comes to house and techno. All across the country, kids of all ages were going mad for the stuff when it first hit the peninsula back in the late 80s, and with it came a whole wave of producers who have never really gotten much credit. Until now, that is. The Experience, a short-lived project from Andrea Benedetti and Eugenio Vatta, released one EP back in a hazy, E-fuelled 1992 entitled Tubes. Flash Forward have repressed here, and its three tunes way ahead of the rest in every way. "Tubes" sounds like it could have been made this year, both in terms of stylistic execution, choice of sounds, and playful balance between house and techno - an unmissable tune! The live version is almost better, stretching out the groove across 7 minutes of charging, cerebral techno, and "Madcap" does no harm to extend this deep, organic strain of dance music, guided further into oblivion thanks to the help of a few hidden semi-breaks. Warmly recommended. This version comes in dark, see-through green - a collector's item.

Review: Absolute Italian gold from 1990. Peeping right over into the house canyon while retaining all of Italo's sophistication, Ricky Montanari's Key Tronics Ensemble was a driving force in the sound during the early 90s. "House Of Calypso" was their debut, and it came with finessed, emotional key-stroking hook that lifts relentlessly. The remix version features a dizzying solo on the peak, the softhouse version is a little more spacious and lighter in the drums. For most, though, it's straight to the Paradise version - an out-and-out Balearic anthem that's still enraptures 27 years later. Its first repress in 10 years, this is long overdue.

Review: Originally released back in '91 on Naples label Underground Music Movement, Stolen Moments was the sole 12" produced by Emanuele Luzzi under the Onirico name and was picked up by the likes of Derrick May, Speedy J and Steve Rachmad. The four-track 12" has remained a curio for fans of techno from that era and now gets a timely re-issues thanks to the good people at Flash Forward. The title track is a delightful little number, full of dreamy acid and slow enough to be played in a house set and is matched by the skittering bliss of final track "Echo". Sandwiched inbetween these are two cuts that see Luzzi adhering more to the techno template of the time, and it's really not hard to see why Derrick May was dropping this when you listen to the deep futurism of "Onirico."

Review: Seminal sounds: Flash Forward rewind to 1992 where a silky soulful house was building on the firm foundations of Italo. Operating in his rare University Of Love guise, Giorgio Canepa (AKA longstanding Italian house pioneer MBG), laid down three stunning versions of pristine ground zero house music. Pure Roland gold with a fluttering Fingers-style lead, each mix breezes in its own emotive way. 24 years old and still future. Highly limited.