We’ve been bombarding you with record reviews, most of which are at this point a few weeks to a few months old. A lot of that stuff you just shouldn’t have slept on. With spring in full swing it’s important for you to know what jams you’ll want in your bag if you care about setting an appropriate mood. Here’s what’s hot right now, with props (and linkage) going out to the scant few heads who were talking about it before we did.
Gene Hunt – Cancemnini EP – Hour House is Your Rush
How did I sleep on this house genius who has been involved since the start? I absolutely need to go back through this guy’s catalog after hearing Cancemnini. The first track on this record calls to mind the sounds of UK Garage don Wookie, but with a four to the floor kick. The second cut goes a little deeper but keeps the sunny vibe going. Third track ramps up the tempo a little bit and would make a good transition from deeper stuff into melodic techno. The fourth is another uptempo cut with some “oooh” vocals that remind me for some reason of Burt Bacharach, but in a good way. These last two cuts feature piano chords, and I’m a sucker for piano.
KiNK – Rachel EP – Ovum
I can’t help but think Josh Wink put this KiNK record out just to thumb his nose at people who dissed him for the DBX-alike “Superfreak” debacle. Track two is a straight up nick of Jeff Mills classic “Changes of Life”, and the 808 and 303 on the third track “E-79″ is heavily reminiscent of early Plastikman stuff. File this record in the guilty pleasures bin. Yeah, it’s mad derivative but it pushes the right buttons and I can’t help but love it.
Based on Kyoto – Sunrise EP – Japonica
Worth every penny of the insane $21 this Japan import runs, side 1 sounds a lot like Beth Orton and is already my jam of the summer. Side 2 is a genius Recloose remix, essential!
Tevo Howard – Kisses From New York With Love – Rebirth
The man like Tevo is back in top form on this platter. For anybody who thought they were tired of the new-wave/acid sound featured on recent monsters “Move” and “Crystal Republic” pause and rewind because this newest record is quite different enough to make it a must have. Mr. Howard’s still rocking the uptempo TR-707 drums, but with some delightful melodic twists, slightly skewed rhythms and counterpoint piano. Killer.
Nebraska – A Weekend on my Own EP – Rush Hour
The latest Nebraska record shows their underground house pedigree is no joke. Deep, lush, major key instrumentals, with Fender Rhodes in full effect.
DJ Qu – Secret Place – Strength US
Sexy late night stuff here, Qu redeems himself for his recent lackluster performance with Jus-Ed on UQ. Touches you in a soft-core secret place indeed.
Various – Soft House Experience – Mathematics
Damn, what a way to follow up Adonis’ deeper than deep “Late Invitation”, with three more cuts of insanely deep house music by three relatively unknown artists. Unbelievably good. Side note: Juno recorded one of the tracks at 45 instead of the correct (and admittedly sloooow) 33.
Andrea – You Still Got Me – Daphne
File under way-too-fast-for-me-to-play-genre-bending-tunes. Is it jungle? Dubstep? Techno? 2-Step? Broken-beat? I don’t know but it’s quite good. So many “dubstep” (sucks) producers make hardcore revival promises that their Ableton plugins just can’t keep. Andrea delivers. Helium vocals FTW. By the way, this Andrea is a he, namely Andy Stott who hit it big in ’08 with his Unknown Exception album.
Sofrito Specials Presents – Fire the Body (Natural Self Remixes) – Sofrito Specials
I haven’t decided if these afro-edits are too corny or not, but my initial reaction is that I can see dancefloors going mad mad mad to these drum and sample laden, dare I say, bangers. Remember when music was just fun?
Big Strick – 100% Hustler Remixes – FXHE
His first EP wasn’t essential but considering it could be had for peanuts I bought it anyway. This double pack on the other hand is crucial. I’ve found myself playing nearly the whole thing back-to-back for the past few days. The hissing hi-hats alone make me pump my fist.
All of the above records are probably currently available at your preferred local or online vinyl retailer.
Bonus! I forget how I recently happened upon this WAY uptempo dutch techno banger from ’95 but it is fantastic
Oh, and, dubstep still sucks.
with you on the nebraska and the soft house release.
also picked up Hieroglyphic Being’s “ancient echoes” the third release on that Maths Plus sublabel he’s got going on. I know everyone wails on Jamal Moss for putting out too much music but this one’s a real cracker if you like it gritty and wild.
Really really loving local hero Fudge Fingas’ “About Time” on Prime Numbers too. Have spent the entire weekend unsuccessfully trying to get “It’s about time” out of my head. Looking forward to the next Firecracker as well as the album!
Full Disclosure: Gav is a pal of mine and is responsible for me spending WAY too much money on good music these last few years!
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frank reply on April 12th, 2010 11:02 pm:
You know, I’d buy more of Jamal’s records if most of them didn’t sound kind of like crap. I mean, I love the lo-fi sound (Omar S, Theo Parrish, et al) as much as the next guy, but so many Mathematics records are just so bizarrely EQed that it makes them really stick out in the mix.
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pipecock reply on April 13th, 2010 12:04 am:
more than “sticking out in the mix” being a problem for me, it’s his use of painful highs. it kills me listening on my computer speakers much less when amplified by something with a little power behind it. granted i’m the guy with sensitive hearing wearing earplugs as soon as it gets a little loud, but i find it to seriously be painful to listen to some of his tracks.
that said, i do own and enjoy some of his records where that isn’t as much of a problem! and i like that he has his style of doing things, even if it’s not pleasing to me….
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gmos reply on April 13th, 2010 5:43 am:
they do that on purpose I think, I remember Hieroglyphic Being talking about that sound in the interview on Gridface. Don’t you think Omar-S is also a bit guilty of having OTT highs, etc?
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bernardo reply on April 13th, 2010 2:43 pm:
Honestly the vast majority of time “special” EQ’ing tends to drive me nuts… Unirhythm Green 001 almost blew my speakers when I forgot the lows on that inexplicably explode towards the end of the track. My copy of Theo’s “Friendly Children” is basically unplayable b/c Theo decided to get extra ‘special’ with the EQ’ing on that one.. AHH!!!
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kuri reply on April 13th, 2010 5:17 pm:
I was so gutted to find my copy of “Friendly Children” so fucked up EQ-wise as well. After years of waiting for a repress it came but now I can’t even play it. Very disappointing.
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pipecock reply on April 13th, 2010 6:23 pm:
hmm, i know that one has some farty kicks but it was never as bad for me as say Omar-S “Night” or some of the Jamal Moss stuff. that shit has killed it in pittsburgh many times!
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Dean reply on April 18th, 2010 11:42 am:
Well, after talking to you about this before I went and checked my copy of Night (which I LOOOOVE btw) and there’s no farty eq’ing or distortion. It’s perfectly playable although a mate’s copy does have the farty kicks
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pipecock reply on April 13th, 2010 2:48 pm:
i mean, certain Omar-S records have some highs that kill me a bit (like the one on Sound Signature immediately jumps to mind) but it definitely isn’t almost every record. in fact i’m having a hard time thinking of others that make me feel physically uncomfortable, though i know he has done it a couple other times.
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clom reply on April 13th, 2010 5:23 pm:
that omar s on sound signature is my shit.
track 008 is pretty jacked up too.
i just love fucked up sounding machine music so jamal’s stuff is going to be up my street- can completely understand people not feeling it so much!
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pipecock reply on April 13th, 2010 6:22 pm:
i like that style myself, everything from Steve Poindexter and shit like that up to the new guys we are discussing here. i just can’t get with painful high end, my ears are too sensitive. and when you play shit like that over a somewhat serious soundsystem, it is REALLY painful!
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frank reply on April 14th, 2010 12:34 pm:
it’s not really the super high high end that bugs me so much as the lack of any low end. you can always dial down the highs, but you can’s exactly create bass that isn’t there. i am definitely a fan of gritty stoner house production values, though, so don’t nobody get me wrong!
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frank reply on April 13th, 2010 2:51 pm:
I too don’t think Alex is too guilty of improper EQing.
I am looking forward to checking that Gridface article gmos, thanks for the heads up on that. I remember seeing that when it was first posted but never got around to reading it.
Also, I hate you Bernardo for having a copy of Uni-Green
I still can’t believe that never got a single repress. Do you have the red one too?
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Kenny reply on April 13th, 2010 4:11 pm:
A chap I know was in Hardwax at some stage in the last few months and they were saying there that the Uni-green is supposed to be getting a repress. Not that I care, I gots it too
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frank reply on April 14th, 2010 12:33 pm:
best news ever. i still can’t figure out how i missed out the first time. midwest advocates is one of my favorite records ever, so when green dropped i must have been in a coma or some shit.
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kenny reply on April 14th, 2010 4:21 pm:
tbf, it was one of those records that just dissapeared as quickly as it appeared. I’m still baffled at how it went so quickly. And it was a 500 pressing. I’m the only person I know who got a copy. Having said that, I think, as great as it is, that it’s the weakest of the Uni series.
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bernardo reply on April 15th, 2010 8:15 pm:
Its funny because I’m not an M. Pittman fanatic by any means… I tend to think his dark, abstrsct stuff is somestimes dull and at times his sounds are even painful (wait till you hear FIT 002…christ…it hurts).
I just happened to be at Dope Jams when they had their last copy of Unigreen and thought it sounded pretty neat… I’m happy to have it as I love the A-side. I do think its a bit overrated overall due to its rareness…I don’t play it as much as I expected to. Partially because the EQ’ing is a f’d up.
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Wow… you weren’t lying about that Big Strick. Those hi-hats are so crisp and all those tracks sound ridiculous! Gotta get a copy.
I hadn’t heart about the Sofrito edits but they sound pretty legit. I just checked the previous 12” with the cumbia edit on it. Pretty cool.
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gmos reply on April 13th, 2010 5:47 am:
I got the first of those Sofrito Edits and I quite like it. However I since sourced the original of it and that’s way better, ie, the quality was really in the source rather than the skill of the edit. Nice sounds all the same.
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bernardo reply on April 13th, 2010 2:34 pm:
Cool gmos… Do you know what the source of the cumbia edit was? Would be happy to get that original!
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frank reply on April 13th, 2010 2:48 pm:
You know, I thought it might be the case that the originals would be just as good if not better, so I ended up holding off on that Sofrito record for the time being. In fact, there are a couple others that I was geeked for in the list above that I think I am going to end up passing on in the end. I’m fickle that way.
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