Bunch of New Records

This year was feeling a little slow for new releases I cared about. That seems to have changed over the last month or so. I’m just going to do a quick rundown of some of the things that are out and about right now….

An early contender for jam of the year is Patrick Gibin’s 12” on Eglo called “Cloud 9” which features Javonntte on vocals and Mark De Clive Lowe on keys. This is every bit as good as you’d expect with that lineup and it’s one that will stick in your head after you hear it.

Another top joint so far is Kai Alcé’s newest 12”. He made a few copies available online for Record Store Day and they sold out within an hour or so. It will be available at Deep Detroit as well, and it is typically excellent. This time he remixes Kamasi Washington on one side and Gregory Porter on the flip. Both kill!

One of my favorite labels is back. Down Low Music has restarted and their first release is the long awaited vinyl pressing of The Connection Machine’s Painless album (which was originally released on CD by Down Low in 2004 but was recorded for Planet E all the way back in 1994). Even after all these years this remains one of my favorite techno albums.

The Teflon Dons have re-released their classic joint “Tomorrow People” (which was the first ever appearance of Gregory Porter on record) on a 7”. The vocal mix was on Must Have Records’ essential Teflon Dons double pack from a few years back, but this also includes the very different but also very dope dub mix. The first pressing of this 7” was a stamped white label that sold out quickly, but there’s another pressing coming with label art. And a little birdy mentioned that there may be some new Teflon Dons music coming soon on Worldship…. (!!!!)

Also on 7” is the newest release on Unirhythm, two tracks called “Fruits And Vegetable Groove” and “Love 4 My Kinfolk”. This time it is some of Marcellus Pittman’s downtempo and abstract hiphop oriented grooves. If you like his house music these definitely maintain his production style and approach, like an artist who is comfortable working within many genres instead of switching it up to fit in when doing something different.

The homie Rebecca Goldberg has a new one out. Despite going under her real name now, she continues with the acid from her first two records but with a little bit tougher of a techno edge to it. She has two tracks on a split 12” on Cryovac alongside A Garcia and M Kretsch, with my choice being the inside cut “Panopticon”.

Fxhe has put out two non-Omar S records that have piqued my interest this year. First was Norm Talley’s Pier Place Project and more recently is Tink Thomas’s Vibrationz EP. Both have that gritty sample based style of deep house that are associated with Detroit house from the 90s and that’s no surprise as both were active back then. And this sound is still effective even now.

Another unsung hero of Detroit house is Vincent Halliburton, and his newest record Vibe Under A Different Frequency just dropped on his own Algorithm label. The first one on there was very rare and hard to come by, and I don’t know how widely released this one will be either. But I think it’s actually the better of the two records with a similar deep and organic feel to his work with Joy of Sound Productions.

Sound Stream has been a great project for 20 years now, and they are celebrating by releasing a double 12” album of all new material. Most of the record has that micro edit disco thing going on that made SS famous, but the highlight for me is definitely “Mercury Mood” which is more old school melodic techno and a standout for that sound as well.