Yeah, it’s been months. So I’ve acquired quite a bit of music in that time. I’m gonna keep the reviews a little shorter so it can all be read in a somewhat timely manner, but essentially if it appears here count it as a recommendation.
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Mark Grusane – Bad Cavity EP – Heat Amsterdam 12”
Mark Grusane – Dance Intensity – Rush Hour 12”
Mark Grusane is on a crazy tear right now. He is more well known for his old record shop Mr. Peabody’s and his disco edits, but he has kept a nice little side biz knocking out killer Chicago style tracks. And these records contain some of his best. Bad Cavity features perhaps my fav track of the year so far in “Chest Boxing”, an absolute smasher that makes me wanna slam dance. The rest of the record is reminiscent of early DJ Rush or the more abstract end of old Steve Poindexter or Dance Mania, just a perfectly funky, weird, and slightly off kilter acid record. Dance Intensity leans a bit more towards that Medusa’s vibe of Chicago jack meets EBM and new wave. These cuts are a bit more straightforward, but still are guaranteed dancefloor wreckers. The B side even includes what sounds like spoken vocals by Mark himself.
Buy both of these on sight.
Meftah & Thomas Xu – 001 – Meeting Point 12”
Two of my favorites from the new generation of Detroit producers get together on this new label and knock out a gem of an EP. Abstract beats and heavy atmosphere make for a lovely summertime listen. Throw in the sick silkscreened cover which is limited and hand numbered, and it’s another “buy on sight” recommend from me.
Mr. Fingers – Around The Sun Pt. 1 – Alleviated 2xLP
Larry Heard is damn near unimpeachable when it comes to releasing some of the best house music ever made. This album, like many of his recent releases, draws on both soul and deep house elements with a dash of dry modern acid thrown in. My pick is “Shimmer” with its 808s and sax, but the whole album is a pleasure. Can’t wait for Part 2.
EDB & Gary Superfly / Patrice Scott – Yellow Jackets Vol 3 – Mother Tongue 12”
Various Artists – Madre Lingua Remixes – Mother Tongue 12”
EDB has quickly become a huge favorite of mine. I find myself playing at least one of his tracks in nearly every set. With Gary Superfly he brings us “The Fifth Floor” which starts off with raw jacking drum machines and acid before smoothing out with beautiful strings and keys. A lovely shape shifter of a jam. Patrice’s jazzy “Mood Swings” is also great and makes for a very useful 12” to have in the bag.
Madre Lingua was a stand out compilation filled with dope tracks by names both more and less known, and the remixes somehow came out even better than the originals. EDB and Gary Superfly’s original “Pressure” gets twisted up by Kaidi Tatham and Patrick Gibin and is now possibly the best dancefloor jam I’ve seen in action so far this year. Seemingly simple with only a handful of elements (drums, acidic bassline, some light pads), no move is wasted in crafting them into a monster of funkiness. Mark De Clive Lowe also takes on “Apollo 3000” and the results there are an epic and beautiful electronic ambient cut. Again, buy this on sight, you won’t regret it.
Dave Maze – “Moog Groove”/“Space Disco” – D&e Records 12”
Chicago’s Dave Maze is back with a one-sided two tracker that mashes up disco with modern soulful house in his distinctive style. “Moog Groove” leans more towards house, while “Space Disco” unsurprisingly is more disco. Both feature instrumentation by Heart Clay, and both bring strong energy. The label art is a throwback to those famous 80s dance classic bootlegs (for those who know!). Another D&e killer.
Various Artists – Herald Traccs Vol 1 – Worldship Music 12”
The man Aaron Paar of Teflon Dons fame has really been knocking out a ton of great house and garage releases on his Worldship label since relaunching it a few years ago, mostly made by himself. However this record sees him invite some friends to drop some music on the label, and the results are excellent. Santiago Salazar kicks it off with a house cut that samples a major soul classic, while Kelvin K opts for a more stripped down and dubby approach. On the B side the Dons come with their dark garage with big basslines, while Westcoast Goddess brings in layered vocal samples on their jam. All in all a nicely diverse set of deep jams for the heads.
Damon Lamar / Kai Alcé – NDATL Special Edition 2022 – NDATL 12”
Kayenne – “Rain Fall Down” – NDATL 12”
It should be zero surprise that the annual NDATL Special Edition is extremely good, but when one of the artists on it is the elusive Damon Lamar… my expectations get even higher. And of course he knocks it out of the park on “Paradise En Luv”. Sounding like a lost Jungle Wonz jam, it is that mixture of electronics and deepness that Chicago cats are masters of. Kai’s jam “Seasons” doesn’t disappoint either, his lush take on house with Delvyn W. on keys delivers the goods as only he can. The party itself was off the hook as well, it was my first real packed dancefloor action since the pandemic started and it felt so good to sweat all of that out.
Kayenne’s original “Rain Fall Down” is produced by the legend Chris Brann, but it doesn’t appear here. We are instead treated to a series of mixes by Anthony Nicholson, Marc Cotterell, and Groove Victim (in what must be one of his last tracks before he passed away earlier this year). All versions are nice but it is Nicholson’s vocal rewerk I find myself drawn to most often.
Rebecca Goldberg – Trois Cent Trois – Detroit Underground 12”
Rebecca Goldberg feat Jon Dixon – “Our Morning” – Self released Flexi disc postcard
Rebecca has been building and building and she seems to just keep getting better with every release. Trois Cent Trois keeps her focus on the acid but keeps expanding the styles she works it within to include more electro and even some ghetto tech. Easily her best overall EP so far. I wrote the press release for “Our Morning” so I’m not going to get deep into it, but I really love the track and how she managed to keep her style in tact while working in Jon Dixon’s keys. Check it out.
Wavejumpers – The Sunken Treasure EP – Underground Resistance 12”
Mike Ellison – The Covalence EP – Underground Resistance 12”
Mano De Fuego – UR Presents… Mano De Fuego EP – Underground Resistance 12”
Jessbeats – Decoding Numbers EP – Electrostatic 12”
Submerge was not open for record sales over DEMF weekend this year unfortunately, but from the drop of all four of these just in time we know that UR is back in full force for the first time in a good while. Wavejumpers of course takes a trip through the world that Drexciya first explored, and that brand of rough electro funk still sounds great in 2022. Mike Ellison’s “Covalence” feels like an update on the kind of vibe that Transition brought, with spoken word working with UR style techno for dancefloor appeal. Mark Flash’s version is the one for me. Mano De Fuego are probably the most stereotypically UR sounding group that isn’t actually UR that I’ve heard in a while, but their take on it makes for the strongest overall EP out of the group with all four cuts holding it down. Jessbeats drops a nice harder electro record on the Electrostatic label, which seems to be an Aux 88 label operated by Submerge. Looking forward to hearing these out and seeing what UR has for us next.
Scott Grooves – Is This My Sound? EP – Natural MIDI 12”
Scott Grooves – The New Moon – Cano cassette
Scott’s new 12” moves a little more towards a loopy techno sound on the A side, though one that features plenty of melody and soul of course. On the B1 though is more of that hi tech soul sound, this time with an 808 heavy deep electro vibe. Meanwhile the B2 is a minimal house banger that I’ve been beating in my sets. Still funky with its keys and nicely pounding, it wouldn’t have been out of place on Roulè in 1997.
On The New Moon, we are treated to a more lofi side of Scott, replete with grimy synths and drum machines with plenty of attitude. To my ear, this EP sounds influenced by old Juan Atkins and UR records from the early 90s. Nice stuff.
Chris Irvin & Stefan Ringer – “Callin Me”/“Heels On” – FWM 7”
“Callin Me” is a sweet little slice of neo soul influenced dance music, bumping along with a modern funk groove. Supposedly an older jam, but still sounding quite fresh now that it’s finally seeing the light of day. “Heels On” keeps the neo soul and modern funk vibes, but switches the beat up to more of a house style. The beat teases in and out throughout, almost like if Moodymann was soundtracking Insecure.
J. Rocc – A Wonderful Letter – Stone’s Throw LP
J. Rocc’s new full length sounds like what you’d expect to hear at a block party in LA. From hip-hop through to electro with Egyptian Lover, as well as some house jams and boogie funk, many styles of black dance music are included here and done exceptionally well.
Kyle Hall – Good Hado EP – Forget the Clock 12”
I caught Kyle DJ in cleveland back in June and he was extremely on point, rocking the house from record one. I think he played a couple of these cuts in there. This EP covers some ground from electronic heavy techno to the kind of jazzy broken rhythms you expect from Kyle, while also dropping in a nice garage jam on the A2. The label art is also minimal but hilarious. Kyle can’t seem to do wrong right now.
James Curd & Marcellus Pittman – “Shifty Riptide”/“Corners” – Pronto 12”
During the pandemic, Marcellus spent quite a bit of time in Australia. It was there that he hooked up with James Curd (formerly of Greenskeepers) to make this record. Marcellus’ trademark sound design is here, but the production values are less raw than his usual which makes for an odd juxtaposition at first. For many people this may actually be a preference, but for me what it means is that I reach for this record in times where I wouldn’t normally go for a Marcellus track. Still, the results are funky and deep so you can’t argue with it. “Corners” and it’s sax riffs and bubbling acid is my pick of the two. The picture sleeve is also very nice.
Dave Aju – “Spacio Tempo” – Elbow Grease 12”
It’s been a while since I picked up a Dave Aju record, but in the interim it seems like he’s been up to some good stuff. This, his most recent, is a slow house jam that would have sounded perfectly in place on one of the Beatdown compilations. The Full version is a nicely plotted journey up and down through different energy levels, while the Acido Tempo mix ups the sinister strings and acid bass. The Domingo Dub finishes things off with an ambient version. Shout out to the homie Rodney, search YouTube for the interview Dave and Rodney did together that got me back checking out Dave’s recent catalog.
Reekee – Sunshine EP – Sistrum 12”
This is another record I wrote the press release for, so again I’m going to just recommend checking this out if you dig jazzy deep house. Really nice EP that fits in with the label’s recent style.
Andrés – Sunday Kinda Love EP – Motor City Wine 12”
MCW is known for their Sunday parties filled with soulful music, so getting frequent participant Andrés to make a record in tribute to it works out quite nicely. The tracks are tied together through the use of very famous vocal fragments, from classic garage to 80s Chicago and more, all of which are integrated well with his sample based production style. Also this is another record with artwork that is worth noting here.
Kerri Chandler – Spaces And Places (Album Sampler Part 1) – Kaoz Theory 12”
Kerri’s recent music hasn’t really been my thing, but I’m very happy I checked this one out. Very much a throwback for him, the B side “You Get Lost In It” with Lady Linn takes us to the early 90s garage even using the classic organ sound. The vocals and melodies are very well done, so it stands out. But it’s the A side “Never Thought” featuring Sunchilde that has become my jam. Kinda jazzy, kinda loose, with both sung vocals and spoken, it just feels like the kind of house that is more and more rare to come across. Musical but not noodly, soulful but not “soulful house”. Just tough beats and beautiful elements surrounding them.