Staff Picks w / c 6th November 2020

Review: One of the joys of Pets Recordings' output over the last couple of years is how unpredictable it has become stylistically. Basically, you don't know what the next release will bring musically, but more often than not it will be rather good. That's certainly the case on the imprint's latest four-tracker, which sees London producer Jeigo (real name Jack Carr-Miles) flit between driving and occasionally dreamy breakbeat-house dirtiness (the retro-futurist peak-time pump of 'We Are Not Nothing'), Livity Sound-goes-deep house brilliance (the intricate percussion programming and gently swelling chords of 'Far Away'), hazy early morning deep house hypnotism ('FS Melody'), and ultra-deep, UK garage-influenced sunrise wooziness ('Beyond', whose emotive, ear-catching female vocal samples work wonderfully).

Review: Jeff Mills recently announced that he wanted to widen the musical horizons of his Axis label, delivering a more eclectic blend of music made with both traditional instruments and the synths and drum machines he previously favoured. To usher in this new era, the Motor City legend has snapped up a simply brilliant album from Byron the Aquarius. It sees the talented artist add jazz-funk instrumentation (think spacey synth solos, fluid piano lines, breathy flutes and rubbery bass guitar) to a combination of organic and programmed deep house and nu-jazz grooves. It's a brilliantly expansive and spiritual set full of intricate musical details, with highlights including the warming, floor-friendly spirituality of 'Space & Time', the similarly heated 'Spirit of Juju' and the delightful vocal mix of 'Timeless'.

Review: Burnski's 2-step shenanigans continue apace with this sizzling drop on his Instinct label. The tech house titan's inspired take on UKG hits on all the right touchstones, especially on the fired up 'Don't Know'. From the gnarly low end growls to the tightly-wound RnB vocal lick, this is as sweet n' sour as you could wish for in the grand tradition of sub-testing shufflers. 'Creeps' is no slouch either, keeping the beats tight and dexterous, and finding space for some sweet synth rushes to sneak in between the rubbery b-lines and twitchy drums.

Review: The synth-pop delights of Romain FX get the remix treatment from a stellar cast, leading in with a bombastic turn from Lauer. The Tuff City Kid takes the atmospheric mood of 'The Drive' and casts off into orbit with plush pads and sparkling arpeggios before Mr Ho delivers a pumping take on 'Ke Al' precision-tooled for the floor with a distinct 90s flavour. Warehouse Preservation Society take an adventurous approach on 'Fray', amping up the 80s motifs with playful percussive tones that wouldn't sound out of place on a new wave record. Bongomann completes the set with a remix of 'Air House' that holds onto pop sensibilities on its way to the club.

Review: Macedonian producer Stojche joins the Infiltrate stable for a bout of classy, moody electro with bags of personality hot on the heels of his Urban Chaos LP for Tangible Assets. 'Trauma' builds towards an emotive crescendo, while 'Phobia' twitches in a more dystopian framework that rushes at a formidable tempo. 'Thug Life' keeps things edgy with razor-sharp lead lines that shimmer and shudder around the hard-stepping beat. 'Conflict' rounds things out with a more melancholic mood shaped out by choice chords that drape themselves over the snap of the snare and rapid hats.

Review: Who hasn't been waiting with bated breath for this? Oneohtrix Point Never's rise to the upper echelons of experimental electronica over the last decade or so has not been without good reason, with his back catalogue innovative and realised with patience and attention to detail, even if the tracks are often chaotic.

2018's Age Of, the Brooklyn-based maestro's previous full length, was his most accessible and traditionally structured, but on this latest - fourth on the seminal Warp Records - he's back in the wildly avant-garde, and looking back at his own past through a retro futurist gaze. The vocoders and strings of alt-pop bomb 'Long Road Home', the crackling 80s power-cum-R&B of 'The Whether Channel' and the warped keys of closing credit-worthy 'Lost But Never Alone', juxtaposed with samples and soundbites from the US broadcasting world that inspired the producer's name.

Review: Juno exclusive with free additional wooden 45 adapter.This year, a number of labels - most notably Dynamite Cuts - have been digging in to the seemingly bottomless archives of much-sampled American-Trinidadian artist and producer George Semper, a man many consider to be "the Godfather of Bay Area soul". Here Mukatsuku gets in on the act by offering up a fresh pressing of Semper-produced funk band In One Piece's rare, self-titled debut the first time ever on a 45. The vocal version on side A is superb, and features Cindy Jones singing attractively over a bustling, loose-limbed, B-Boy friendly rhythm track and sweaty Hammond B3 solos from jazz organist Rodney Franklin. The latter's mazy, jazzy keys-work naturally comes to the fore on the flipside instrumental, which has never before been heard let alone released until now. A genuine must-have for funk fans and B-Boys searching for drum breaks alike....As played by Pete Rock...DJ Koco from Japan...DJ Spinna....DJ Muro...Mr Thing....Rob Life....Rob Manga....The Allergies....Smoove..Bobbito....Rich Medina... Evil Ed...etc

Review: Verdant continues to provide a platform for interesting variations on the deep techno tradition with lesser-spotted names. This intriguing collaboration comes from Iranian producer Nesa Azadikhah and the UK's Alison Marks (also spotted in the Wallflower project alongside Leah Floyeurs). Between them, the artists sculpt expressive, immersive atmospheres that use a classic palette but tell their own unique story. 'Pathetic' is a highlight with its fusion of steady-pulsing dub house rhythms and swooping, straining pads. 'Love Note' whips up a swirling, hypnotic blend with an urgent pace, while 'Understandings' injects a little forthright energy into sparkling synthscapes that return focus to the sci-fi idealism of techno at its inception.

Review: Kaoru Inoue's Chari Chari project returns with a new age-tinted album that fuses a multi-instrumental palette with delicate ambient electronics for a truly immersive sonic experience. 'Of Mystic Dreams' plots a course through dreamy distant lands with a steady rhythmic undercurrent, while 'Esfera De Agua' lingers in a playful and inquisitive hinterland of organic percussion and expressive synth voices. 'In Exotic Haze' nods to African high life in its sprightly guitar lines, and 'Suburban Archaeology' eschews beats altogether in favour of lingering chimes and trickling water FX. Throughout the album, a global outlook informs the sonic character of the record, while a meditative mood pulls together Inoue's diverse influences with arftul poise.

Review: Following up the success from her terrific full length debut on Aus Music, heroine of the Berlin underground Cinthie Christl carries on with her prolific musical output, presenting another fine release on one of her many labels: 803 Crystal Grooves - a platform solely designed for the release of her own material. 803 Crystal Grooves 004 features four surefire tracks sure to work any dancefloor, as heard on the throwback '90s house bounce of 'Just Us', the cavernous and glacial dub house of 'From The Vaults' or the B side cut 'Boss Lady In A Man's World' - a strange but not altogether unpleasant mixture of acid, electro and disco.

Review: DJ DSK is back with volume 5 of his DNA Edits series i the same month that he links with his All Stars for another red hot 7". This one kick off with a 90s style rework of 'That's the Way Love Goes' by J Jackson which has replayed bass and drums straight from the golden era. The whole thing has been reworked from the original stems and sounds and on the reverse is a DJ friendly edit of BB K's 'Thrill Is Gone' which has been beefed up for modern systems with a handy intro and outdo to make mixing easier.

Review: It's 1991 and all looks alarming right with the world - little did we know what was coming a few decades later. Nevertheless, the Berlin Wall has already fallen, uniting East and West, and Slowdive have been drumming up some serious support by way of that self-titled EP and sequel, Morningrise. Then they dropped Just For A Day, the debut album, and cemented their place in shoegaze ambient rock 'n' roll history.

Holding Our Breath is both a collector's item reissue, which originally arrived slightly ahead of that first full album, and an exceptional example of how newcomers can be blown away by the euphoria and strange opiate intensity of this band after hearing only a handful of tracks. Comprising 'Catch The Breeze', 'Golden Hair', 'Shine' and 'Albatross', everything soars, glides, ebbs and flows its way through stunning, epic soundscapes that are somehow loud and quiet.

Review: It feels like dance music itself is on permanent vacation right now so it seems apt to be listening to tunes from a label that has long been using that name. This time out, Fort Romeau returns to Permanent Vacation after an EP here earlier in the year, this time with three more psychedelic dance floor explorations. 'The Wind As It Took Her' kicks off with a sleek and futuristic house sound run through with warped bass, and the melodic overtones continue through the spacious and roomy 'A Far Reaching Light.' The deepest and nubbiest of the lot is closer 'The Mirror' which will get you in a trance.

Review: Ammar El Sherei's intoxicating instrumental album Oriental Music was written in 1976 and has remained a cult classic for all the deep diggers, world music lovers and curio obsessives. For this record, the iconic Egyptian artist, composer and producer actually served up his own take on six classic compositions by another Egyptian legend, Mohamed Abdel Wahab. The results are utterly hypnotic and majestic melodic affairs with organic drums and percussion and North African melodies that worm their way deep into your brain and transport you to the hustle and bustle of a dusty open air market or street side coffee spot.

Review: Obsidian is a French trio working in the shadows between London and Paris. This is their first ever outing on vinyl and they use to show off their well formed sound and it makes for a fantastic first release for the newly formed Parallel Connection label. Sounding with classic yet new at the same time, the EP kicks off with the spaced out cosmic brakes and techno of 'Crossing Over' which is colourful and tripped out. 'War Baby' is just as punchy and forward looking in its sci-fi melodies and slippery bass and 'Dystopia' brings the funk with more astral pads and interplanetary sounds of the highest order. 'Soleil Vert' closes out in tricked out electro fashion and makes this an instant buy.

Review: Some compilations manage to both educate, inform and educate in equal measure; this fine collection from Japanese crate diggers DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite and Chintam is one such set. Comprising mostly little-known tracks recorded by Japanese artists between 1968 and '70, it offers up a wealth of cuts inspired by American jazz-funk "rare groove". There's much to admire across the ten tracks, from the mazy Rhodes solos, fizzing big band jazz grooves and traditional Eastern instrumentation of Toshiko Yonekawa's "Soran Bushi", and the languidly-slung brilliance of Tadaki Misago and Tokyo Cuban Boys' multi-faceted musical fusion "Jongara Reggae", to the Jimi Hendrix-goes-funk heaviness of "Incitation" by Monica Lassen & The Sounds, and the drums-driven dancefloor madness of Masahiko Sato Jiro Inagaki & Big Soul Media's "Sniper's Snooze". Recommended.

Review: A Certain Ratio have returned with their most tight and funky album, possibly ever, recently, and it is steeped in 40 years of ACR DNA. Now you can grab two of the standout singles on this fine, limited edition white 7" thanks to Daniel Miller's essential Mute. Opener 'Berlin' is the second single from that album, ACR Loco, and has breezy vocals and Trillin riffs over tight drum work. 'Dirty Boy' is riddled with squelchy synth funk, with popping drums and a great vocal performance that will get any party vibing.

Review: FINN's white label series keeps on giving up golden goods and now the third in the project is here. Again limited to 300 copies with no digital and no repress, it's a club-focussed 12" that opens with 'You Know Right', a tune that pairs driving UK drums with a mournful set of chords. 'Love & Or Happiness' is both deep but upbeat, with a great vocal sample stealing the show, and 'Scandalous Little Number' serving up wild, freewheeling chords over unrestrained drum bumps that call to mind classic Moodymann. 'Sweet Little Loop' closes in hi speed, hi sweat, hi soul fashion.