Lerosa “Design EP” A Touch of Class 12″
Lerosa “Seeker EP” Enclave 12″
Lerosa is taking 2007 by storm. The man has been dropping bombs all over the place, starting with the “Ruski” 12″ for Real Soon earlier this summer, demonstrating his personal take on slow organic house music. As good as the Real Soon 12″ was, the EP for Enclave is even better. “Seeker” starts things off nicely with the gritty chords and quirky percussion, this is one that needs to build up, deejays need to give it some room! A fantastic tune. “Pussy” is next, on a classic soulful strings and electric piano deep house tip. “One Year Friends” is a simple bass and drums groove, but it’s all about that bass! Super deep, too many house and techno producers are afraid to let the subs pump like this! “Furry Host” wraps things up with a more live feeling groove, one for the fans of Detroit style house. Rumor has it that this will be getting another pressing soon for those who missed out on it the first two times around. This will be in my Top 10 for 2007, no question.
The Design EP (released by A Touch Of Class, a label owned by Andy Vaz who is also the head of the true minimal label Background as well as the new soulful house and techno label Yore) is another take-no-prisoners dancefloor record, starting off with “Babylon”, an uptempo jam that sits somewhere between techno and house, with the discordant keys reminiscient of Theo Parrish but also a driving bass heavy groove. “Deception” is a cool little tune with a melodic bassline and thin chords alongside a horn sample, definitely one of the standout Lerosa tracks for me. “Design” reminds me of Mr. Fingers’ “Washing Machine” but more tweaked out and bleepy and with soaring synth string hits. The EP ends with “Cracked and Ready”, a heavily shuffled house groove with a huge dub bassline. Word on the streets is that Giles Peterson is already playing “Babylon” and “Design”! And Mr. Lerosa still has a bunch of not yet released bangers as well, hopefully we will see them come out soon (perhaps as a full album?!)….
——————————————————————————
Juju + Jordash “The Timeslip EP” Real Soon 12″
These guys have been around for a couple years now, the first release of theirs that I picked up was the excellent “Hush EP” on Reggie Dokes’ Psychostasia label back in 2005. They returned to wax earlier this year with the excellent and bizarre “Blue Plates”, their debut on the Real Soon label. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long for them to follow that one up! The title track on this EP, “Timeslip”, is a superdeep string-laden tripped-out house jam that uses synthesizers and drum machines in a very organic manner. The off-kilter drums add to the melodic tension, a proper epic. “House Muzik 123″ is an interesting title for the A2 cut since most typical “house” fans would probably argue that it isn’t even house music! Slow grinding synths, fuzzed out guitars, and warped dub effects cover up anything of the standard house beat that may exist. This is haunted house music! The finish up the EP with “Fajr Dub” on the B-side, which is a very laid back and relaxed, but still maintains a similarly eerie air. Dubbed out vocals and big reverberations ride a simple synth bass line on a long meditative journey. This is exactly the kind of release that critics who claim house music is no longer innovative are just missing. Experimental, psychedelic music that is great for listening, but also soulful and fantastic for dancing!
Amazing that Lerosa is in his fifties and making such cutting edge music! I heard he built most of his equipment over twenty years ago too. Unbelievable.
[Reply]
Leo’s jams are the shit! Boy is holdin it down for Ireland for sure….gonna collaborate sith him in the future….as soon as we get this damn studio finished!
[Reply]
Just from reading the reviews I’m curious about the tunes these artists produced. // I could really get off spinning soulful techno with proper classic - all blended nicely. Yeah, I love those classics(LOL). Tom, I recall you spinning Plastic Mode’s Baja Imperial” in one of your mixes, I’ve always really dug that tune.
[Reply]
You wrote “[Ruski’s “Seeker”]is one that needs to build up, deejays need to give it some room!”
I’ve jotted down a similar note about J.S. Zeiter’s “Motion_Sickness” (Label:MCMLXV, 2004) after very recently hearing it for the first time ever on an online mix. Could you imagine the quality techno tracks would have to be for a DJ to play a set completely unmixed, LOFT STYLI. I think it could be done. Accepted??? - that might take some time(LOL). Reprogramming actually. Has this ever been done B4???
[Reply]
wow! juju and jordash - what a vibe! I don’t like all of it, but some of it is amazing… I’d kill to have such as loose vibe in my tracks. going to check out the lerosa stuff now!
[Reply]
oh man, I’ve dying for this Time Slip EP to drop, beautiful!! check out the mixes on their site too, loads of good stuff
and leo’s been dropping some fine EPs this year too, keep up the good work
[Reply]
1)thanks all, I’m blushin…
2)twoplayer, don’t give away all our little secrets, you’ll scare the lovely teenage girls away…
3)The juju’s rock!
L.
[Reply]
@ SoulFunk : Its quite interesting what you say about playing techno music ala The loft, with tracks being simply played one after another…I really like the idea and may even try it some time. wheather its accepted…..fuck it!
Peace
[Reply]
TR One, it’s a new concept waiting to be tried. Yo, also wanna say in my opinion the crowd you play this way for has to be a crowd that’s SERIOUSLY about the music for it to come off. I can’t see this style of programming Techno/Tech-House working for any typical crowd. Programming music ‘Loft Styli’ (from my perspective) generally works only at the most underground of functions. Perhaps you might consider growing into this thing … not rush it, particularly if you have a reputation/brand to maintain. That’s real, chief. After all, this is a business (hope I didn’t assume wrong). It’s a whole new way of playing techno/tech-house that will rattle those pulling the strings expecting the same old fare and to be paid … // And, of course, classics normally unheard in these type venues should be tossed in the mix. The RIGHT CLASSIC: Quartz’ Beyond The Clouds” comes to mind whenever I think classic techno // Many tunes from the early to mid 80’s pool of Italo-Disco might be worth programming // D.O.R. and New Wave genre has an abundance of tunes … Devo’s “Cars” just popped into my mind.
Think, too of the freedom you’ll have programming music this way. It’s infinitely less rigid than beat-mixing hour after hour … Even the tempos, IMO, should vary ,which is something out of the ordinary for techno venues. The idea’s a damn good one. Should be fun giving it a shot. Yo, TR One, let me know how it turns out. Ain’t gonna take but a little bit of reprogramming to get folks to say Oh shit ….so what’s that all about …now you got these clown drones in the palm of your hands(LOL).
[Reply]
It would probably be good to maybe have sections of your set like this at first and maybe occasionaly do full sets. It would also provide an oportunity to actually play some loft type stuff (and stuff similar) that maybe would not be possible due to bpm issues (allthough…theres always a way around that)
I might consider recording a set like this and see how it goes also….will let yo know of course mate
[Reply]
mancuso does drop house records in his loft set, i imagine it wouldn’t be too crazy to play some techno stuff in like that as well, though a whole set when you could easily mix tracks that are all similar tempo with deejay friendly intros and outros might be a bit silly. good music always sounds good, carl craig is especially good at making tracks that stand very well on their own.
[Reply]
man… this lerosa character is something else! such great music… unlike anything i’ve heard recently to be honest… at least quality wise. anyways was wondering if it’s possible to get his D1gital release at a better bit rate than the 64 kbps offered at the D1 archive site (http://www.thearchiver.net/) would love to have these… whether i have to buy them or not.
also wondering if you had any info on any live recordings he’s done
thanks again for a great TIP!
[Reply]