Review: B2 Recordings is a label run by Greek talent Bengoa as a platform to offer up his own diverse sounds. Here he serves up a new single featuring Pan that is sublime, seductive and deep. The vocals you will recognise from a classic pop hit but here they get all resung in an even more libidinous fashion. The drums roll, and the percussion is loose, and bright but soft chord stabs heighten the mood. Flip it over for an instrumental version of 'Thelxis' that is all about the late-night grooves. Two stylish sounds for romantic moments.
Review: Back Of The Bus is always where the cool kids hung out and on the evidence of this first release that will be true of this label too. It comes with fresh and characterful artwork and minimal house beats packed with charm. Manchester-based producer Pach is the man behind them and he opens up with the bouncy 'Double Trouble' before cutting up a more tough-edged groove with '7am Start.' 'Hassle In The Castle' has a nice percolating bassline that never lets up as narcotic pads drift and smear all around and 'Stairway To Heaven' gets all trippy and late night. This is a high-quality first EP.
Review: Manchester-based producer Pach, who you may remember from his much loved 'Pull Up & Dance' anthem on Darius Syrossian's popular Moxy Muzik label last year, produces a generously proportioned four track EP for the Aesthetic stable. Take note of the title, as it dictates the contents, with the A-side's two tracks, the title track and '21 Bump Street', proving to be the definite uppers, both adding a delirious feel of disco euphoria to a sturdy tech-house framework. The flip side features the slightly darker and more mysterious cuts 'Sticky Fingers' and closer 'Six N Switch', the latter featuring the sound of some rather decadent X-rated activities in full swing. Nice work if you can get it.
Review: Naples does disco like nowhere else and that is from where this EP originates. It is like a siren call to Balearic beat lovers with its hypnotic drum loops and dazzling Italo melodies, The angelic vocals rise out of the mix next to pixelated pads on 'Sirenusa' and soon have you shaking your ass. On the flipside is 'Vetara' which is edgier and driving for the later night hours. But it is still lush and cosmic disco, with swathes of retro-future synth sounds, chugging drums and crispy 80s textures. Irresistible stuff.
Review: Black Key return from a four year hiatus in style, with 4 sublime tracks from Australian ultra deep house don, Planisphere, aka David Swatten. Following an incredibly well received LP on reissue label, For Those That Knoe, Swatten returns here with more expansive, smokey and utterly consuming deep house cuts, stamped with his unique sound but offering a different flavour from his Definitive Transmission LP - one which immediately stands out from the crowd. Being only his third release in 20 years, there's an understandable sense of anticipation around Swatten's output. This release undoubtedly puts Black Key firmly back on the map, picking up their deserved reputation for releasing only the very best deep house, aimed well and truly at the heads.
Review: Parisian producer Leo Pol is back after a great release on Velvet back in 2014 that showed his potential to create some deep, dusty and totally tripped out house for the afterhours, particularly on the Le Chat Qui Danse EP. He now inaugurates local label IILE (a sublabel of Uniile) with some more hypnotic subtlety; even if it is tougher and faster than his previous effort. There's the opener "2 La Deep De Bretagne" which really rolls deep. "Korben Dallas" gets its swing on in infectious fashion, much like local homeboy Varhat can. On the flip, he teams up with Marc on "21" for a bumpy and minimal jam while closing out the EP is the absolutely sublime "Parking" which is sexy and summery and has a certain DJ Gregory flavour about it.
Review: Chad Pulley makes his first solo appearance on John Beltran's All Good Music label, although keener eyed spotters will know that Pulley and Beltran previously collaborated on a track under the Bel-Pull Productions moniker. He steps up to the task ably, slipping into All Good style comfortably with the calm and melodic, gracefully coasting techno of 'Through My Eyes', before the flip side reveals the wistful 'Mesmerizing Blue', where pianos and synths call and respond over exotic rhythms. 'Sticks' completes the set, slightly harder and funkier than its two predecessors but again with an emphasis on musicality, off kilter danceability and originality. On this showing, a name to watch.
Review: Theo Parrish is a world-renowned name in the global Detroit house and techno game, and he's thrown a fascinating curveball as the latest entrant for the acclaimed DJ-Kicks series. Mr. Parrish has gone above and beyond the duties of most invitees - rather than just licensing tracks from his favourite artists and big-name-friends, he's asked his own community from Detroit to each produce their own mixable tracks, exclusively for the comp. What's more, these are hardly established names - they're organic connections to Parrish, not occupying the top layer of attention and recognition. Bits from H-Fusion, Jon Dixon, Donald Lee Roland II, Ian Fink and Raybone Jones all dominate this anarchic new deconstruction of the otherwise exclusivist mix series.
Review: Before he released 8 and 9 as two separate vinyl albums, Prins Thomas opined that it marked his best work to date. Gathered here for the first time on a single CD, it's hard to quibble with his assessment. For starters, the collected tracks arguably offer the strongest fusion yet of the various musical threads that have long been present in his work - think sun-soaked Balearica, synthesizer-driven krautrock, dub disco, punk-funk, cosmic rock, loose-limbed grooves and wide-eyed, sunrise-ready electronic psychedelia. Highlights include the acoustic-meets-acid wonder of 'Cala Lunga', the sun-bright, slowly rising rush of 'Evig Ung', the rubbery and cosmic chug of 'Earthbound' and the heavily electronic bliss of 'I Love U'.
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