Mark Brickman & Yam Who? - "Shined On Me" (feat Venessa Jackson) (7:30)
Wayfaring Strangers - "Get Your House In Order" (6:12)
Platinum City - "Holy Spirit" (7:35)
Yam Who? & Brian Lucas - "Yah Mo B There" (6:16)
Review: House music's roots are in the church and this new a celebratory various artist collection pays homage to that. The grooves are laced with soulful vocals, churchy chords and big strings that make for grand architecture and grander feelings of joy. Mark Brickman & Yam Who? open with a vocal gem that cannot help but bring a smile, while Wayfaring Strangers pump it up a little more with some funky disco house before Platinum City get you locked in a nice loose, long legged groove that is resplendent with lush keys and big vocal turns. 'Yah Mo B There' has an irresistible 80s vibe and big sing along choruses that will get hairs standing on end.
Review: Needs' commendable charity drive continues to bring forth the goods, both in terms of good causes and world class club music. Rallying round in support of World Mental Health Day 2020, Shanti Celeste kicks the record off in style with the rapid fire, deep-diving workout 'Fantasma'. OCB keeps the pressure up with the psychotropic techno of 'RS3', while Michelle works up some delightfully freaky synths on playful jacker 'Aesthetic'. Bobby's 'Free Your Mind' is a 90s-tinged, full fat techno production indebted to Detroit, Peder Mannerfelt keeps things stripped and raw on 'Our Levels' and Yu Su weaves a beautiful tapestry of interweaving rhythms on 'Brittney'. Adam Pits' trippy techno sounds resplendent on 'Wind Tunnel' and DJ Sports completes the set with the inventive, dembow slanted funk of 'Needs Dub'.
Review: The Plastik People label has been going along nicely for its first few releases, with label head Marc Cotterell stepping up and coming correct last time out. Now he calls upon various artists with Dave Charlesworth taking care of the a-side of Nice Ripe Cuts. He offers two super slick garage cuts that cannot fail to make their mark on the club and it's no different on the flipside except D Lux & Y No combine first for '25 Miles' and then S R offers the irresistible 'Pressure.' An essential 12" for anyone looking to bring some fresh garage flavours.
Review: A mock-vintage version of a well-known but also tragic reggae classic, 'Satta Massagana' by the Abyssinians. Legend has it that the original tune was slated for release on Studio One, but, for reasons unknown, the dubplate ended up rejected by the label's founder, Coxsone Dodd. Indeed, sometimes it's a record's repression, not its release (get it?), that lends it its staying power. To add insult to injury, this new cover version by the Dig This Way All Stars and Yakka was first produced in acetate form and ended up cracked and unplayable only weeks after its receipt. A miracle cure, in the form of a vinyl restoration service in Rome, salvaged the record: just know that you're in an extra lucky position to be hearing this one at all. A cursed record? Perhaps, but the release of 'Sata' also implies proof of the original song's point; that some higher power really did give praise.
Review: Originally released in 1977, 'Deliver Me From My Enemies' is one of those roots reggae tunes that became something of a cornerstone of the gene from the visionary Vivian "Yabby You" Jackson. It is the title track of his third album and was recorded at Channel One Studio with mixing by the great King Tubby so was as real and authentic as it gets. It is a short and sweet sound that mixes up spiritual vocals with haunting production marked by Yabby You's signature mystical sound of minor-key melodies, deep bass and evocative horns. drumming. Backed by top session musicians, it reflects Jackson's deep Rastafarian beliefs and critiques of social injustice and marked a crucial release in the evolution of conscious reggae.
Review: Planet Rhythm's third transmission is another various artists' affair that takes no prisoners. This is straight-ahead techno that is proud of its perfect planed linear loops and ability to get you in a mediative head space. Erdem Yetim kicks off with the seriously weighty 'Perfect Silence' and its panel-beaten loops. Simone Tavazzi's 'Pyramid' is another hefty kicker with icy hi hat ringlets and fleshy drums while 'Das Ego' is as good as reductive dub techno gets. Dave Simon hits the nail on the head with his 'Dubby Stomper.'
Review: The Yoruba Singers reinterpreted Guyana folk music and infused it with Afro-roots and culture on this double A-side 7". Now for the first time every it gets reissued on vinyl. This release came a year after the group's debut album Ojinga's Own and were recorded in Barbados and released on the Green Shrimp label. They were big regional has with dancers lapping the grooves throughout the Caribbean and South America. The sounds are said to be the building blocks for what went on to become known as the Champeta Criolla sound in the Caribbean coast of Colombia.
Review: One Eye Witness rounds up another four acts for their periodic V/A series, spewing forth four breaks-driven whooshers crossing into progressive techno territory. The Hague duo Young Adults nod to a 1997 Loveparade anthem with 'It's Only Temporary', while breaks and kick implants converge on Christopher Ledger's 'Change That', a track which sounds like the starting firings of an interplanetary expedition pod after years of disuse. Joely brings cosmic chug on the cocooning B1 'Transitional', while the Samesame closer 'Novel End' is just that, traversing a noxious atmosphere with a flexoskeletal electro beat.
Review: Astonishingly, nearly seven years have passed since the last 12" single from Young Marco hit stores. While he's kept himself busy co-curating two volumes of proto-trance anthology series Planet Love and recording a tropical-tinged album (2019's hazy and home listening-focused Bahasa), it's still nice to see him refocus on delivering future dancefloor anthems. 'I'm Still Mellow' is a wholehearted tribute to a psychedelic, sample-heavy Dutch style of the early '90s known as Mellow, which was a kind colourful and loved-up take on British hardcore and European techno. Young Marco's interpretation is simple but devastatingly effective, with fluttering synth sounds and gorgeous electronics tumbling down over a booming bassline and heavyweight breakbeats. Turn to the flip and you'll find a fully psychedelic backwards version. Trippy!
Review: Inell Young was a New Orleans-based singer who recorded with Eddie Bo and also had a small clutch of solo singles in the late 60s-early 70s. Soul Jazz picked up on one of Young's rarest offerings, a beautiful single which came out some time in the 60s. They first reissued it in 2014 and it keeps getting repressed for very good reason - it's just a perfect slice of southern soul. 'The Next Ball Game' is a fiery, funky number with a clattering beat and plenty of overdriven energy, raw like the best music should be but oh so sweet thanks to Young's angelic voice. 'Part Of The Game' is a swooning heartbreak ballad that makes the perfect inversion to the firecracker of an A-side.
Review: Inell Young's What Do You See In Her is often said to be one of the most powerful soul songs to have ever come from the great New Orleans scene. Eddie Bo is of course the great man behind it - as he was so many of these great tunes from this place and this ear - with the voice of Inell adding the spice. Finding an original is hard as, and will also cost you very close to four figures, so snap this one up while you can. Both sides are pure gold.
Review: Vancouver Dj/producer Yu Su has previously impressed via occasional contributions to the Mood Hut-affiliated Libra Mix series. This is the DJ/producer's debut solo release and boasts two high-grade cuts on one single-sided People's Potential Unlimited 12". Opener "Infi Love" is typical of the hazy, dusty and spacey Vancouver deep house sound - all soft focus intergalactic chords, vintage drum machine percussion, cut-up female vocal samples and undulating analogue bass. The jazziness continues on "Soon (MOA Mix)", where wonderfully hazy trumpet samples and horizontal chords trickle down over a bossa-inspired beat. As you might expect, it's seriously evocative and atmospheric.
Review: Pressure Dome's Yussh gets busy with her debut EP on Wisdom Teeth. Flexing fully across four tracks, her signature fusion of breakbeat, bass, jungle and club hits the spot in true Bristol brutalist fashion. 'Look Mum No Hands' eases us in with a dreamy, spacious halftime trip while the recent single 'Same Same' continues to keep the subtle sense of chill with its floating chords and slinky percussion. Elsewhere 'Close Fall' sounds like it could have come from the desk of Kid Drama and dBridge's Autonomic HQ while 'Self Conscious' closes on a deep space cosmic jungle/techno hybrid. No hands, no fear.
Review: Given his innate ability to craft intensely atmospheric and often fundamentally unsettling music, it seems apt that Thom Yorke has finally got around to producing a film soundtrack. It's fitting, too, that said soundtrack is for Luca Guadagnino's weirdo remake of 1977 Italian horror flick "Suspiria". Yorke nails the brief, delivering a string of chilling, otherworldly instrumentals that not only draw on his well-established love of dark ambient and gruesome electronica, but also foreboding neo-classical movements and sparse, wide-eyed arrangements. There are a smattering of superb vocal moments, too, with recent single "Suspirio" - described by one broadsheet reviewer as "the saddest waltz you'll ever here" - standing out.
Review: Earlier in the year, Yves Tumor announced the release of this album by releasing 'Gospel For a New Country', a low-slung chunk of post-punk pop brilliance that mixed weighty grooves and emotive vocals with flash-fried guitar riffs amd sampled big band horns. Fittingly, it's this fine track that kicks off 'Heaven To A Tortured Mind', a notably fuzzy, live-sounding set that continues his evolution from quirky electronica maker to alt-rock artist. While there are some electronic sounds dotted across the set, for the most part it's funk-rock riffs, ESG style basslines, organic drums and his own heartfelt vocals that dominate. It could win him many new fans; certainly, it's a very good album.
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