So Many Good Records I Don’t Know What To Do

It may seem a bit silly to use a CD cover as the image for a record review post, and even sillier to lead off that post with a review of said CD. However, this is how it is going to be done. I am not against purchasing CDs, no matter how much some people may dislike them. It is especially likely for me to purchase mixes, albums with tracks that are not released on vinyl, and even compilations of records I already have on wax, if just to support the artist in another manner. Ron Trent’s Dance Classic falls into the latter two categories.

The Future Vision Records label is Ron Trent’s successor to the famed Prescription/Balance labels and has been dropping new tunes by Ron, Aybee, Trinidadian Deep, and others for the last four years. Starting in mid-2008, the label relaunched with different catalog numbers and a new sense of purpose: the last year has seen fourteen releases on Future Vision as compared to the six releases in the three years prior. With that volume of production, it can be hard to keep the quality level high. Fortunately, having Ron Trent at the helm makes that less of a problem than it could be. Not every release has been essential, but a large number of them are (I’ve picked up six of them, and if I had more cash I probably would have grabbed another two or three) and this CD compiles many of those along with some new cuts. My favorites like “City Beat”, “Intoxicate”, and “It’s Hot” fit comfortably with new joints like “Hooked On Your Love”, “The Pressure”, and “Meltdown”. All the cuts on here share a similar production style, melding old sounds with new ones and organic sounds with electronic ones, all laid out in extended repetitive jams. Long, drawn-out arrangements leave plenty of room for synth solos and lush atmospheres to slowly evolve.

This release is probably not going to be for everyone; the length of the tracks and the impenetrable depth of the tunes mean that it is going to find its audience amongst house-heads who are in the search for something more than the average “deep house” release. But for those people, this is a gem that it is going to be tough to equal. Perhaps it may have been more effective for the general public as a mix, but for me these tracks stand well enough on their own that it isn’t a problem. Hopefully this compilation will work to make people more aware that Ron Trent is still making awesome house music.

Moving on to the insanely good vinyl I got in the past week…..

It may be a bit trite at this point since it has been hyped to death basically everywhere, but the new Floating Points jam “Vacuum Boogie” is pretty much the shit. I was really NOT into the Planet Mu joint, but this one takes it back to “Love Me Like This” quality levels of deep house/techno, and I imagine this will be another anthem. It’s already on the new Scott Grooves mix at Fact that is pretty much the bomb as well.

Another follow-up that managed to live up to the first hot 12″ is the new Still Going 12″ “Spaghetti Circus/Untitled Love” on DFA. “Untitled Love” is definitely the successor to the deep vibes of “Still Going Theme”, with the 80’s style disco/house not too far from Walter Jones’ “Living Without Your Love” but played by Sade’s band Sweetback. Let’s just say that I am kind of in love with this song. More surprisingly, “Spaghetti Circus” is a throbbing disco anthem with a soulful male vocal. While not as beautiful as the flip, this will be getting hammered by me as well. The impeccable execution of differing styles will help this hold on to its spot in my record box for the forseeable future.

Speaking of Walter Jones, Supersoul recently repressed his release from last year entitled “All God’s Children”. Less disco-inflected than his DFA 12″ from this year, “A.G.C.” is a soulful deep house instrumental that just rolls on and on for 17:35 according to Discogs and even then I don’t want it to end. This is one of those perfect late-night anthems, I can’t believe I slept on it! I will now be exploring the rest of his catalogue….

One of my favorite lesser known Detroit producers also dropped a new joint last month on Rush Hour, Ibex’ 360 EP. Much more in the swirling house style of the Planet E records (as opposed to the techno one he dropped last year on his own label), “360” is rightfully the best track on this one though all will appeal to Detroit house fans. It’s good to see Tony Ollivierra (brother of The Detroit Escalator Co.’s Neil Ollivierra) back in the game, you can check out a nice mix he did recently at my boy Count Zero’s blog here.

Rainer Trueby (part of the Trüby Trio who have been dropping jazzy dance music on Compost for the last decade) dropped a ridiculously smoking sample-based deep house 12″ on his own bootleg-ish label. The Stevie Wonder joint on the A side, “To Know You”, is quite simple a beautiful example of how to sample properly, along with added synth work and a flawless arrangement that builds to the breakdown before releasing. Almost as good is the B side, “Ayers Rock”, that reminds you of a 90s era Moodymann track, but still rises above most copycat records in that style. Another essential ’09 release!

I finally managed to hunt down a record that has eluded me since its release earlier in the year, Kai Alce’s Alpha Revisited EP on Deep Explorer. “KZR Gruv” is possibly his best track so far, utilizing the same simple sound pallette as the rest of his releases but done to perfection here. The only track on here I am not really feeling is the Dubbyman remix, which doesn’t really add anything to the record that it didn’t already have.

It doesn’t appear to be on Discogs yet, but the Tom Moulton mix of Dimitri From Paris’ remix of Incognito’s “Step Aside” (which is from this remix album) appears on a new 12″ that straddles the line between 1979 and 2009. Moulton’s characteristic arrangements knead everything out of the tune, and then stretch it out to 12+ minutes. If you love classic Salsoul, this will be right up your alley. On the flipside is the Mark De Clive-Lowe remix of “Feel The Pressure” which is a slightly broken-beat feeling house jam that is also very nice. Another versatile record for the box!

One more….

Stacy Epps is surely one of the most exciting artists in the hip-hop/neo soul worlds due to her abilities at rapping and singing, combined with her choice of producers to work with. The 222 EP puts all of that on display. From the previously-released-on-7″ “Floatin” to the noisy closer “00:00”, her sweetly sung vocals and quality raps augment various levels of abstraction brought by producers like Madlib, Flying Lotus, and Apex. It’s definitely worth hunting this down, you can check out a couple of the tunes on Youtube.

All in all, each of these records ranks among the best in each genre that I have picked up so far this year. And this has been a really good year so far! With two new releases on Sound Signature, a New Kai Alce on Real Soon, and way more about to drop very soon, it looks like ’09 will be a banner year for deep dance music……….