VICK LAVENDER 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Sophisticado Recordings label head Vick Lavender hails from Chicago and is doing fine work to continue the city's house legacy. Back in January, he dropped the superb Time Traveler album and is now back with a cheeky one-sided 12" on limited white vinyl that draws on some mad classic sounds, all worked up into a super funk and jazzy jam that's layered up with Rhodes jams, splashy cymbals, rubbery and rolling baselines and organic percussion. It's the sort of steamy session to get cosy backrooms really heated up and boiling over. Another standout from Lavender.

Review: In the world of house music, it's often the B-sides - more adventurous or deeper alternatives to the peak-time-focused lead cut - that often last the test of time. It's a conclusion that Vick Lavender has come to, at least, because this limited-edition EP marks the first in a 'B-Sides Series' in which all cuts are bonuses, alternate takes or 'tributes' to other artists. He begins by paying tribute to Dexter Wansel on 'A Space of My Own', layering dense hand percussion, spacey electronics and intergalactic synth sounds over a rock-solid kick-drum pattern. He then slams down two versions of the King Sporty sampling 'Mr Sporty': the sax-squelch-and jammed-out keys-heavy brilliance of the 'Time Traveler Re-imagined Mix' and the more leisurely, synth solo sporting deep house warmth of the 'Drums & Life' version.

Review: Vick Lavander is on fire right now having recently minted Brett Dancer's new label Ethnic Blend Music and now comes back with more of his humid and authentic deep house. This one is also to start a new label - Sophisticado, his own new imprint - and first up is 'Deep Root,' a cosmically included deep house cut with gospel-style organ chords and chunky drums that work you into a lather. 'Hustle' then picks up the pace with more superbly warm chords and this time some Balearic acoustic guitar riffs and impossibly sunny grooves. Life-affirming tackle for joyous dancefloors.

Review: This soulful, busy, heated and sultry 12" vinyl record features the work of two of Chicago's most eminent producers around today. On production duties comes Vick Lavender and Carlos Mena, and they're complemented by vocalist Amma Whatt (who appears on the cover), with respect to making a funky housey tribute to soul and jazz and bossa nova, producing a steamy whirlwind of a track that is hard to place, yet stellar. The various mixes are up-front and mega-roomy, but Whatt's vocals hit softly despite.

Review: From Chicago to New York via the UK, Freedom Party rack up mega phono-mileage on this retrotextual deep house steamer. The label have set foot on this bold, folk artistic sound-quest since 2023, when the first V/A emerged amid black-and-yellow steams of equably danceable produces from in-house charcutiers Look Once, Mederic Nebinger and Steal Vybe. Now a completely fresh crew is welcomed aboard, with just three new mates added to the original four: Vick Lavender deals in impossible erotism on the long out-of-press vocal jam 'The LOVE Song', with anachronistic beat tech and sampled, 1930s-feel vocals. Funkey Munkey follows up with 'Make Me Feel It', an ambitious retro-rave sound-splay, and In House Ii offers to take us home on 'Love To Love You', a sultrier refit of an all-time-classic, Donna Summer surestarter.