OLIVER DOLLAR Vinilo y CD

Review: Berlin's Oliver Dollar has spent over a decade refining his groove, carving out a lane where classic house meets raw, rolling funk. The third instalment of his Contemporary series is another sharp statement of intent, linking him up with an enviable cast of collaborators while keeping his signature bounce fully intact. 'Cosmic Weapon' leads the charge, a deep, hypnotic house workout built with Melbourne duo Ben Silver and Boogs, whose Revolver Upstairs residency credentials shine through in the track's elastic bass and tripped-out vocal chops. 'What Cha' Gonna Do?' shifts gears, pulling in Apropos and Boog Brown for a soulful call-and-response that channels golden-era Detroit funk, with Oliver Dollar's crisp percussion keeping the groove locked tight. Closing out the release, 'Ought To Be' is the most immediate of the lotiBilly Love's gospel-drenched vocal soaring over warm chords and a bassline that practically glows. House music built for sweat-drenched dancefloors, this is Oliver Dollar in his element: curating, collaborating and delivering club weapons with unmistakable swing.

Review: Oliver Dollar sure knows how to cook up a catchy hook and he has done so many times before on several labels. For this one he lands on Berlin mainstay Rekids and brings a very different sounds to the label's norm. Opener 'Strings For Life' is lush, airy and golden with rich strings soaring high above a soulful, rolling and simple but effective house groove. 'School Daze' is a loopy one with funky bass, jazzy chords and more timeless house drums all topped off with a retro vocal sample. 'Sophisticated Funk' is just that with its balmy and summery loops of filtered house goodness. Joyous tunes for sure, these.

Review: We can think of a few reasons why you should check out this collaborative EP from Oliver Dollar. Chief amongst those is title track 'Braeburn', a luscious chunk of tactile and emotive deep house that layers looped, 'Deep Burnt' style string samples and dewy-eyed easy listening vocal snippets around Salsoul Orchestra-inspired disco-house beats. Demuir Playboi offers up a re-edit of his own on the flip, casually re-framing the track as a more bumpin' chunk of peak-time house full of jammed-out electric piano motifs and bolder bass. Elsewhere, Brillstein collaboration 'Roots' is a dustier deep house excursion, while 'Dope Tool' is an echo-laden, disco-fired drum dub that's guaranteed to add energetic excitement to any DJ mix.

Review: Part one of Refuge's new La Decima V/A 12" series hears select tunes from select artists, all of whom have made significant contributions to the label's catalogue over the years. Spanning everything from firmly driven nu-disco to scratch n' sniff garage house to Chi-style stompers, we're more than enthralled by this well-rounded resonator. The best of the bunch has to be Demuir's 'Vibez High', which moves unabashed and stringy, its clawing claps, freeze-locked funk licks and scraping open hats painting a vivid street scene set outside the house.