Tags: Latin House

Review: RECOMMENDED
The remix album is probably pretty hard to crack in terms of putting it together. On the one hand, you want a broad selection of producers to take the work and make it new again. But there's also a very real risk of winding up with a bunch of random tracks with no real coherent thread to ensure the LP is actually going to get enough people buying to warrant engineering, mastering, and pressing costs.

Khruangbin have certainly cracked it with these takes on tracks from their most recent and perhaps most lush long form outing to date. We have sophisticated micro house, percussive slo-mo disco, slick-to-the-touch downbeat grooves and surrealist pop, all of which work both individually and together, the result being a record that not only knows its own mind, it can easily convince others, too.

Review: This glorious package of remixes of the BaianaSystem band draws together contemporary Brazilian sounds with plenty of modern dance floor flourishes. A?gua is the standout track from their 2018 LP and is a poem to the bands native Bahia people with the legendary Antonio Carlos & Jocafi. It is perfect material to rework for different settings and deep house don Jimpster does that with his fat bottomed, tropical remix then stripped back dub. Brazilian producer Diogo Strausz joins forces with RNT boss JKriv on the flip for a more drawn out and cosmic exploration that pumps up and down on weight bass and that lovely loose jumble of percussion.

Review: Gold standard house label Razor-N-Tape looks back to Guinu's modern LP of Brazilian jazz-funk, Palago^, and has some key cuts from it remixed by a selection of assured studio hands here. First up, Jose Marquez reworks the title track into a heavy and hypnotic jam with big percussion. The Faze Action remix of 'Haha Fe' brings some fresh disco sounds and RNT stalwart Diogo Strausz brings big room synth energy and cosmic vocal filters. Last of all, Brazilian Carrot Green brings the 80s boogie brilliance to 'Porao de Ferro.'

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: If the Balearic Islands are a physical place, then Balearic music is certainly the foremost concept in its adjacent ideaspace - it seems as long as Balearic music exists, there can be no further cultural exports from the Archipelago. Have A Nice Day are a mysterious collective of DJs and producers inspired by said sonic throughline, and they're determined to tap into it for as long as it exists. They describe their music as 'Baleariche', a fusion of Balearic and Italo disco with a touch of kosmische and psychedelia. The first in their Baleariche Grammophon series exemplifies this, with two polar tracks coming as blends of heatstricken Latin guitar, jubilant handclaps and and flowingly happy pair of mixes overall.

Review: Last year discerning digger Jose Manuel gifted us with a first compilation of 'Obscure & Rhythmic Tunes', searching for deep cuts which fused the best of various cultural percussive styles with the emergent dance music of the early 90s. Now he's back for a second round, drawing further into the breakthrough years of the late 80s and coming up with some astounding cuts well outside the usual narrative around the advent of house music. Just check the bass heavy, piano laden thumper 'Sombras Na Calcada (Def Dub Mix)' by Civil and you'll hear exactly what we mean.

Review: While he's been a stalwart of the Athens underground for decades, it's only in recent years that Lex has begun to release music on a regular basis. Here he returns to Delusions of Grandeur following his collaborative EP with Locke, 7 Day Path, in 2022. Fittingly, Locke makes an appearance - alongside Guto Fernandez - on 'Purity', a fine vocal number that sits somewhere between nu-disco and percussive Latin house, while Lex's love of collaboration continues on the late-80s piano house vibe of 'No Time For Formalities'. It's the A-side's solo tracks that impress most. Our pick of the pair is 'Without You', a hypnotic and locked-in acid house roller full of mind-mangling TB-303 motifs, jazzy Rhodes licks and spacey chords, though the deep and funky 'Strip Town' is almost as good.

Review: Blair French is the next quality artist to make their debut on the increasingly vital MotorCity Wine imprint out of Detroit. He brings hints of Balearic as well as signature smoky deep house from the 313 to his work here. 'Ancestarians' (Physical Mix) also has pan-African influences, jazzy melodies and rich organic percussion while the Spiritual Mix is all about going deep into ambient bliss. 'Champagne Kiddie Pool' then looks even deeper into the musical niches of South America with dembow rhythms overlaid with lively claps and cosmic chords. Last of all is 'Sandbox Fossils with driving bass from James Simonson and guitar from Ryan Gimpert.

Review: While hardly a "Holy Grail"all bar a few people didn't know it existed until recently, D.J Never Sleep's sole single, the private press gem 'Teorema', can certainly be described as "buried treasure". It was reportedly the work of some experienced Italian producers, though its' sound is all Spanish guitar solos, early house-meets-Latin freestyle beats, joyous Piano riffs and evocative female vocals, it is pure formative Balearic house. This Thank You reissue not only showcases the original EP's two leading mixes (track two here, the more chugging and synth bass-sporting rework, is the pick), but also a never-released, effects-laden 'Never Sleepy Beats' drum took, plus versions in Spanish (B1) and French (B2).

Review: Released last year but recorded back in 2020, Jogada's debut EP, 'Cavalho', fused authentic Brazilian percussion, vocals and instrumentation with musical motifs more associated with Balearica, deep house and saucer-eyed nu-disco. As the title suggests, this belated follow-up sees tracks from that EP get the remix treatment. Norwegian-in-Berlin Telephones steps up with a typically breezy, sun-soaked, tactile and loved-up 'Sambalearic Street Jam' rework of 'Masamabaktu', while Jogada re-animate 'Coco De Pista' as a hybrid Balearic nu-disco/deep samba workout with added sunrise-friendly vibes. Audrey Danza then delivers a trippy, EBM-and-acid-inspired revision of 'Cavalho', before we're treated to a previously unheard cut: the immersive, sun-down ambient bliss of 'Ohne Coco'.

Review: The Tasty Treats label is weaving an intriguing path thus far, having recently released an album of future jazz magic from Kirk Degiorgio under his Offworld alias, and now they're welcoming Shaka onto the label to indulge in some effervescent, richly musical house music good n' proper. 'Shadows Of The Past' has the kind of star-gazing arps and uplifting string stabs which speak to early 90s Detroit techno at its most joyful, but there's also a house sensibility driving the groove. Meanwhile 'Southbound Path' pivots to some red-blooded Latin influence, from the percussion to the nagging piano and beyond. If you need some technicolour magic to sprinkle into a party situation, this record will serve you well.