Hell Yeah Italy Vinilo y CD

Review: Talented Italian collective Aura Safari features well known Italian house producer Nicolas amongst other fine musicians. They have released a fine album on UK label Church but now head to their homeland's Hell Yeah for a debut EP full of magic. 'Lagos Connect' fuses afro drumming with house beats, lush synth work and glowing melodies to make for something beautifully grown up and musical as well as danceable. After the reprise and dub comes 'Morning Rivers,' a super slinky and seductive jazz-funk number with glowing, golden chords and subtle cosmic rays of light.

Review: Hell Yeah is a label that is right at the heart of the Balearic sound worldwide. It is studiously run by Italian Marco, who is also a deep-digging DJ himself, a part of the Balearic Gabba Soundsystem and also co-founder of much loved Berlin club night Buena Onda. The night's second compilation is coming soon but before that is this taster which gives you a great cross-section of the sounds to expect: leftfield disco, mature grooves, deep and slow acid workouts and plenty in between. Japanese master Calm really stands out here with his take on Gallo's 'Abysso.'

Review: Here is the long awaited debut album from long time musical adventurer Gary Irwin as The Vendetta Suite. Over the years, Irwin has racked up releases of his own on Harthouse, Novamute and Phil Kieran Recordings, while being a frequent studio collaborator with fellow Irishman David Holmes. On The Kempe Stone Portal, released on Italian label Hell Yeah, Irwin explores such disparate genres as krautrock, library and synth music, through to house, downtempo and Balearic across this widescreen 12 track album, which is a testament to his illustrious career in music.

Review: Gary Irwin's musical journey since 1990 has been long and varied, with spells as an in-house engineer at various studios being combined with occasional releases, mostly of a Balearic flavour, as the Vendetta Suite. The Kempe Stone Portal is his first album and draws on a vast archive of tracks built up over 20 years. Musically, it's subtly diverse in the best possible way, with Irwin delivering colourful, atmospheric and emotive cuts that variously draw influence from ambient, new wave, synth-pop, new age, mid-80s AOR, library music, post-punk, dub, shoegaze and much more besides. That it all not only hangs together but also makes perfect sonic sense is testament to Irwin's skill as a composer, musician and producer. Well worth a listen.