Review: Aniruddha Das (DSPSSSSD) and Gary 'Roy' Stewart (Dubmorphology) have been collaborating since the mid '80s as Dubnoiz Coalition. While Das went on to acclaim as part of Asian Dub Foundation, Stewart is an experimental artist producing sound design and immersive works for the likes of Tate Museum. Back in 1990, they created some of their first tracks as Ani-Roy, mixing the early influences of acid house with their interest in drone and sound effects, the results being the improvised jams 'Tilt' and 'Fari 116'. They were pressed as very limited white labels, remastered and reissued some 30 years later here on Platform 23.
Review: Synkronized is just three releases deep now but is already an assured and reliable outlet for fresh house sounds. This latest offering takes the form of a various artists EP and opens with the brilliantly spaced out electronic house of'Lorenzo Chiabotti & Just_Me's 'Darko FM'. It's a silky one with balmy pads that encourage you to dive right in. Martin M's 'Pleasure Minds' then strips things backed to a nice and empty but rolling groove and on the flip Chad Andrew & Imbue get crunchy with their broken beats. That leaves just Den Haas with his mellifluous and pillow deep house cosmic delight, 'The Spot.'
Review: B2 Recordings hits release number 13 with DJ Rocca and Lex combing on a trio of fresh house cuts that blend elements of disco, Latin and soul. Up first is the glorious 'Solid Street' which has loose and percussive disco-house grooves overlaid with big synth energy and steamy vocals. 'Solar System' is slower and deeper, with a more rugged bassline and low slung sense of funk that never lets up. 'Last of all, 'Rose Tree' is a ramshackle house arrangement with whistles, Rhodes keys, tin-pot percussion, florid flutes and plenty of sunny energy all making it a real standout. A timeless EP packed with musicality.
Review: French producer Houdini (Simon Peter Ellis) might be toutable as merely a trance producer on the surface, but the reality is that he's much more of a weirdo than our genre tags make him out to be. The name of the 'Strange' EP suggests that it is, well, just that. With these tracks released in and around 1994 on the infamous Fax label run by the late great Pete Namlook, they're as mad as hatters, barely clinging on to their status as trance numbers before indulging some of the oddest tricks and presets in the book. The humourously-named 'Don't Know Really' and the organified 'Beyond Recognition', for example, are essentially house numbers, but in their indeterminate moodwork and jarringly in-betweeny palette, it's really up to you as to how to categorize them in the end.
Open Door (Theo Parrish Behind Closed Doors remix) (10:16)
D1 (8:10)
Open Door (Gerd remix) (8:53)
Review: Back in 1996, Losoul's first outing on the now legendary Playhouse label caused such a stir across Europe and the U.S that it ended up being licensed and reissued - with additional reworks - by labels in Detroit and the Netherlands. This double-pack from Running Back brings together Losoul's original mix - a loopy, is-it-house-or-is-it-techno loop jam that cannily builds in intensity over the course of 11 and a half minutes - and two of the smartest revisions: Theo Parrish's mesmerising, deep and hypnotic revision (one of his best, we'd argue) and Dutch producer Gerd's jazzy, warm and sub-heavy shuffler. Also included is original B-side '00000000', a fine slab of minimal house hypnotism, and the previously unreleased 'D1', a more laidback and stripped-back disco-house loop jam.
Review: For the second release on their new joint venture Mixed Signals, Henry Jones and Seance Centre founder Brandon Hocura have decided to offer-up a selection of tracks from Harold Lucious' overlooked 1990 album "Connected". Lucious' far-sighted blend of soulful house, new jack swing and what us Brits would call street soul comes to the fore on opener "Let The Feelin' - Turn You Out", a stripped-back, synth-heavy chunk of deep house-soul, and on the much more upbeat club cut "What Does It Take". It can also be heard, too, on delicious flipside opener "I Like It", where Lucious' layered vocals ride a tactile, lo-fi deep house groove. Our pick of the bunch though is sumptuously slow closing cut "Try My Love", which is much closer in tone to street soul.
Review: The second Abstract Cuts release is an EP split four ways, but with new, unconventional approaches to the dancefloor at the heart of each submission and all using vintage drum machines and samplers. The Robot Dance Connection's 'Powers Of Ten' (R2d2 live edit) kicks off side one, shiny high frequency polish played off against a gorgeously stubborn techno beat, before the slinkier and smoother 'Gold Saucer' by Brunzi offers an equally danceable but less angular counterpoint. Flip it over and Tomska's 'Lethal Overdose' (Touch dub 2022) offers rushing sonics, off kilter snare damage and four to the floor thump, before Emile's 'Jeu Froid' completes the set in grimy basement style.
Review: Manchester DJ and producer Sameed spins his way into your affections here with a glorious EP that melts gospel, soul, disco and house into some lovely floor filers. 'Ode To G' has big Philly strings and classic-era diva vocals over copy and lopsided rhythms. 'Want You' is another loopy one but this time it's a bit tougher and more of a tease with a French house touch. 'Feel It' (dub mix) is all about the lung-busting vocal cries and rickety drums then the silkiest of the lot os the stuffing deep house cum US garage cut 'Baby (Listen To Me).'
Review: This is Freestyle free from any style.
There is no need for the disembodied voice telling you THIS IS HOUSE.
It is simply felt and known.
{Every kick.
Every arpeggio.
Every bass note.
Experienced through the prism of now.
Ribs rattle from the heart center to the endless reaches of consciousness.}
The racks are stacked high beyond the heavens as the Filter Queen speaks of love without words.
Bound to no earthly constructs, beholden to no laws.
This is the joyous sound of overground resistance.
Review: The good folks at Salon have got some more signature acid weirdness out of Tin Man here with the new single 'Shooting Stars'. It's a slow-motion and druggy downtempo pop lullaby with pensive spoken word mutterings. Elsewhere the Monkey Nenufar Vata remix of 'Electric Blue' is a rather mid-tempo roller with a playful rhythm, fleshy drums and meandering acid lines next to distant pads that are delightfully catchy. It becomes more dubbed out and minimal on the A2 then Tobias layers up crispy drum breaks and silvery hits on his remix of 'Love Sickness.' A varied and vital EP for sure.
Review: The Underground Culture Tourist is a new label from the artists of the same, aka Moss Shamshad. He has been making music since the eagerly 2000s on top labels like Classic Music Company but now takes the power into his own hands on this self-releases 12". It finds him back in the heart of the classy deep house underground with a debut vinyl release that will immediately turn heads. 'House Music Anthem' is stylish, stripped back yet atmospheric with its rolling drums and cosmic synth work while 'P To You' has a little playful funk to its beatdown drums and steamy chord work.
Review: We will always have time to check out whatever it is that Glenn Underground is serving up. The Chicago house mainstay has carved out his own distinctive sound over the last three decades and much of it comes on his own Strictly Jazz Unit. This latest drop is a reissue of his classic 'Cloud Burst'. It is a track that sits on the more raw and physical end of his personal spectrum with jacked-up drums and plenty of percussion run through with some wispy synths and the crunchiest of snares. A high-impact dancefloor weapon for sure.
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