Tags: Balearic House

Review: Especial Specials has joined forces with Osaka-based imprint Chillmountain Recordings to offer up another Enjoy Your Self EP. This one once again showcases the talents on its roster with label head Ground kicking off with a beatdown meets trance sound on "Utau Narukoyuri'. After that slow burner come tribal percussive sounds from 'Arauma' (Kobato Dub), sunny cumbia on 'Something Sign' and a meandering Balearic journey from Akira Arasawa With KUN & FRANKY-CH that is brought to life with new age flute sounds, bird calls, jungle drips and folkloric strings. A fantastic EP, then.

Review: Before delivering the self-explanatory Newwave Project album in 2017, Kuniyuki Takahashi had spent well over a decade delivering spiritual, life-affirming blends of deep house and future jazz. It's this side of his output that shines through on Remix Works, a collection of some of the producer's most sublime reworks of other people's work. Typically atmospheric, musically detailed and emotion-seeped, the set contains numerous headline-grabbing highlights, including a fluid, acid-flecked Latin deep house version of 'Plateau' by Mouse on the Keys, a sparkling and futuristic Afro-house re-wire of Mr Raoul K's extra-percussive 'Dounougnan Magni', a marimba-sporting drift through deep aural rainforests (his sublime revision of Kazumi Watanabe's 'Garuda') and a loved-up, life-affirming re-imaging of Jungle By Night's horn-sporting 'Love Boat'.

Review: Takecha is the alias for Japanese house producer Takeshi Fukushima, who established himself as a vital voice in the deeper-than-deep underground through his own GWM Records label. Following some choice drops on Holic Trax Fukushima has brought his undulating sound to Sakskobing for a four-deep excursion through blissful pads, warm and rounded basslines and steady ticking drums executed in the classic fashion. From the immensely satisfying Lately bass and joyful chords of 'If I'm There' to the smoky Sunday mood of 'Shinuya Walking' this is an EP to melt into, but there's a strong backbone to make sure it does the business on the floor too.

Review: New label alert! Takashimashuzo comes from Japan and opens with some blissed-out Balearic deep house from Kammoushiki on this hand-stamped white label. 'Cosmic Sea' has archetypal Balearic guitars noodling in amidst endless synth modulations and over breezy house beats. It's a beautiful cut that takes you to the Med in an instant. 'Geronimo' brings jazz-funk vibes, languid guitar work and tumbling drums over shuffling kicks. It's fresh, colourful, inviting stuff that kicks off this new label in enough style to mean we will be checking in again soon.

Review: A limited release collaboration on Japanese disco dub outfit Monkey Timers' Disko Klubb, with Sound Of Vast, a record label run by fellow countrymen in Amsterdam. Klubb Lonely features collaborations with some of the scene's finest, including Berin by-way-of Italy's Mr Ties (Homopatik) on the slo-mo disco of 'Less', electronic experimentalist Ketia Sano with the deep and emotive 'Hometown', the tunneling ad psychedelic head music of 'Cold Days, Warm Heart' (feat DJ Sammo Hung Kam Bo & Manami Kakudo) and a cover of Dusty Springfield's 'That's The Kind Of Love I've Got For You'.

Review: To kick off new label Takashimashuzo, Kammoushiki - who is presumably the boss - is dropping two new 12"s in the same week. This is the second and like the first, it is inspired house music that takes its cues from the 80s Ibiza party landscape. 'Magic Hour' has gurgling basslines riding up and down the scale with innocent keys and lazy drums. It's heartwarming stuff from sundown. 'Nakanaide' then ups the Balearic quotient with even more prominent and arcing guitar licks over bongos and soulful chords.