Review: Texan deep house stalwart Ben Hixon has been very busy of late, variously serving up EPs of his own and guesting on one by pal (and fellow Dallas resident) J.T Donaldson. Hixon is particularly good at combining analogue electronics (especially vintage drum machine beats) and more organic sounds with lashings of trippy effects and curious samples. He does that masterfully on this four-tracker, skipping between the deep, rolling bass, looped vocal snippets and crunchy beats of 'Get In The Mood', the deep tech-house DJ tool that is 'Drumloop 1', the dusty, minor-key shuffle of title track 'Hustle', and the ultra-deep hypnotism of 'Scared of June'.
Review: Texan producer Ben Hixon has been particularly prolific of late, releasing a swathe of rather good - and undeniably analogue-powered - deep house EPs on Dolfin Music, a label he's been associated with for many years. Here he drops a seven-inch single - a rarity within house music - featuring two jams that make extensive use of his Casio LK keyboard. A-side 'Casio LK 1' is a breezy chunk of old school style deep house that comes blessed with a deep, heavy bassline, sparkling keyboard riffs, and soulful, eyes-closed vocal snippets. He opts for a sweatier, more stripped-back and occasionally distorted drum sound on 'Casio LK2', wrapping this tough-as-teak, no-nonsense beat in dreamy chords and spacey melodic flourishes.
Review: Liv.e is an LA-based, Dallas-born artist who this summer has a reimagined version of her acclaimed sophomore album Girl In The Half Pearl served up after collaborating with Dallas-based producer Ben Hixon. Together, they transform the original tracks into an energised, feel-good experience that symbolises resilience and recovery after heartbreak. Hixon's innovative approach to each song adds a wholly different perspective on Liv.e's introspective lyrics with genre-blending production traversing, trap, broken beats, deep house and and blissed out grooves all with the vocals unifying the sounds with an otherworldly edge.
Review: Texas-based Ben Hixon and Atlanta's Stefan Ringer collide on this new split EP for the increasingly vital Dolfin label. It is Ringer who starts with a tight, grinding groove on 'Moving Walkway' with spoken word snippets and kaleidoscopic synth sequences bringing a trippy and unusual energy to the menacing bass. His 'PLGLY' (SR Big Room mix) is then a heavy beatdown with synths that snap and crack while jazzy percussion and dark vocals bring extra character. Hixon's 'Feels Extremely Good' is a busy, off-balance mix of deep house drums and mind-melting synth refrains while 'My Family' offer a blissed-out and soul-drenched closer.
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