CREATIVE SWING ALLIANCE 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: It's been 12 years since Creative Swing Alliance's Pablo Valentino launched the Faces label, and this is only the imprint's 16th 12" release. Despite the sometimes infuriating infrequency of their releases, Faces records are rarely less than inspired, offering a deliciously soul-soaked take on deep house. This split EP contains four superb offerings in the label's trademark style. There's some loopy, Rhodes-laden goodness from S3A (doing a good impression of Moodymann), a more bumping but thrillingly immersive outing from 4004 & Sebastien Vorhaus (the sumptuous "Selections B"), a lovingly loose and sweet blast of soft focus deepness from Valentino under his Creative Swing Alliance alias, and a bassy chunk of eyes-wide-shut house from Aurelian AKA KM3.

Review: After recently impressing on Endless Flight with some sparkling, jazz-flecked deepness, Creative Swing Alliance brings their unique brand of fluid deep house to Tsuba Limited. Mother Water is every bit as spellbinding as you'd expect, with the title track particularly impressing. It's wonderfully positive, recalling the halcyon days of early New York deep house, with the kind of loose swing that marks out the finest deep house productions. The woozy, disco-flecked "Higher Ground" is almost as good. The flip boasts a Medlar remix of "Mother Water" that's arguably one of his best reworks yet. Far brighter and aesthetically pleasing than previous efforts, its New Jersey flex is offset by the sweetest of melodies.

Review: Killer Endless Flight 12" debut for the Creative Swing Alliance duo of Pablo Valentine and Steven Joyce Ames - two names that should be familiar to the deep house cognoscenti! Valentine runs the MCDE label, while Ames has been responsible for drops on Compost, Soultronik and Jazzmin, though together as Creative Swing Alliance they're on another level. As lead track "Assado" slips into action, those thick bass drum kicks are soon consumed by a richly detailed procession of textures, dub laden vocal edits and percussion that collectively glower with resplendent energy. Alongside this, the detuned jazz thonk of "Everybody Stand Around" gets a much needed vinyl release after featuring on Endless Flight's fifth edition of I'm Starting To Feel OK, while the flip has Valentino going solo for the excellent, hand clap laden beatdown of "Give It To Me".

Review: Late last year the Wolf Music crew launched a dedicated vinyl only series in triumphant fashion with the double dose of Red Rack' Em that was In Love Again. Evidently looking to maintain a high profile for this new endeavour, the second release in the series features the talented duo that is Creative Swing Alliance! If you've shaken a leg at a recent Wolf Music gig you'll no doubt be familiar with "In My Arms" from Pabs Valentine and his fellow Creative Swinger Steven Joyce Ames, a sublime arrangement where percussion rattles away with just a hiss of distortion, complemented by filtered M1 stabs, a beefy bassline and some fierce vocal hooks. Heading up the B Side is Wolf cub Thrillogy; don't be put off by the chilly title, "Arctic" is actually all about the warmth that resonates from those huge synth lines.