Even More New Records

I know this will make it three new records posts in a very short amount of time, but it needs to be done! There’s just so much good stuff coming out, and none of the things I am going to talk about have been mentioned on here before. I know this one might be long, but it is worth it to read the whole thing as these are all pure HEAT!

Kicking things off is a record I haven been anxiously awaiting for a hot minute, the followup to Kevin Reynolds debut 12″ on his own Todhchai Records. This new one isn’t on discogs (or anywhere online) yet, but the copy I have is a full release version so it should be out very soon! The lead cut, “Favis”, is one that has appeared previously on some versions of the CD albums that Kevin has put out over the past few years. The kick drum on this one is pretty much exclusively sub-bass that also acts as a bassline underneath the beautiful percussion and synth chords that are the hallmarks of Kevin’s productions. This is the spiritual successor to “Anonymous Room…”, a deep, beautiful house jam! On the flip, Santiago Salazar does up a nice remix, upping the tempo and the energy but maintaining the Detroit beauty of the melodies while also adding dramatic UR-esque strings and synths. You can check out his remix on Soundcloud. Two other tracks fill out the release, the A2 jam “Herobeat” and the B2 cut “You Search For A Means”, neither of which have appeared elsewhere to the best of my knowledge. “Herobeat” starts off with a bit of a breakbeat feel to the drums, which smooths out halfway through as the synth parts take it deep. “YSFAM” begins with what sounds like a boogie sample with reverbed drums and a little guitar line, which is then adorned with beautiful pads that take it in an unexpected direction. All in all, another dope EP from Kevin. Hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for the next one!

Morgan Geist played here in Pittsburgh twice recently, both times flexing the selections that make him one of my favorite deejays. One tune he DID NOT play, though, was this new Environ joint “Look Right Through” by Storm Queen. For me, this is one of the best tunes in recent memory. Morgan’s production reminds me of those classic early 80s dance tracks by Timmy Regisford and Boyd Jarvis, minimal funky synth and drum machine soul with slight dub touches. The vocals are done by Damon C. Scott, and I really hope Morgan continues to work with him as the results are far superior to the album stuff he did with Jeremy Greenspan. There really isn’t too much to say about this, you just need to check that YouTube clip and you’ll understand.

Another instant classic vocal jam has just dropped on Public Transit Recordings, home of Moonstarr. While Kevin Moon had previously been known as one of the best North American producers of broken beat, he was always a massive music head and of course a big house and techno head. His “Detriot” single from way back in ’04 gave people a little taste of what he could do in those genres, but even that can’t come close to touching “Monopoly”. Featuring Tash on vocals, the track sounds like a combination of 4 Hero and UR with a conceptually punk message to the lyrics, though delivered soulfully. This one will be taking up space in my record box for the foreseeable future!

Now this is a tune I have been waiting to have for over five years! Way back in May ’05, Theo Parrish opened up his set at the 3 Chairs DEMF afterparty at Oslo with what sounded to me like a version of Amerie’s “One Thing” backed by the Cantina Band from Star Wars. Thanks to my, uh, “enlightened” state at the time I did not recognize the backing track as the “Love Bug” mix of Lil Louis’ “Nyce & Slow”! Regardless, this mashup was just totally bananas, one of the wildest things I’ve ever heard in a club. The flipside of the wax, a limited run of 100 white vinyls which was only available from Dope Jams at their Halloween party (though they did sell a couple copies on their site afterwards), is another mashup, this time of R&B artist Avant’s “My First Love” laid over the classic “Faces Drums 3” which will be familiar to anyone who listens to Ron Hardy mixes. I’m not usually into mashups (to say the least), but mashups usually aren’t this much fun either!

Our homeboy William Burnett’s (aka Speculator) label W.T. Records have a couple sweet new releases out. First up is the Model Man record which is produced by DJ Overdose. The A1 cut “Honest Doesn’t Pay” is the dancefloor banger, sounding something like a cross between John Carpenter and a Shannon instrumental. If this had come out in 1983, Ron Hardy would have played it at the Music Box alongside jams like Trilogy’s “Not Love”. The rest of the EP takes things more into the Carpenter-esque soundtrack territory, but with some slow abstracted beats that give it more of a modern flavor. Buy this one for the dance cut, but it is good listening material as well.

WT-005 is by Sir Stephen, and it is entitled “Pagan Future EP”. This is a really weird record for me, but in a good way. The tunes are pretty varied in feel, from slow cosmic house to faster paced techno, but with a feel that is not like most releases. These tunes are all just a little more complex than most dance music, with arrangements and sound pallettes that remind me of The Orb or The Connection Machine. “Good King’s Crusade”, the B2 cut, is my personal favorite, but all the tracks are nice. This record is about really beautiful electronic music, which seems to be the aesthetic of W.T. Records in general. None of the releases sound anything like any other, but they have all been high quality so far!

Heading more into the disco territory, Escort are finally back with a new 12″ “Cocaine Blues” on their eponymous label. With lyrical nods to Dillinger’s reggae classic “Cocaine In My Brain” and a bassline jacked from the People’s Choice disco classic “Do It Any Way You Wanna”, Escort craft an infectious dance jam on par with any of their previous releases. Greg Wilson pares the vocals down and dubs out the rest just a little bit, keeping the sweet groove intact. I’m conflicted about playing a track about cocaine since that shit really isn’t my steelo, but this is a great song despite the lyrical message. I’m sure there are plenty of you out there whom this will become an anthem BECAUSE of the lyrics though, but I won’t be judgmental about that 😉 I heard somewhere that there is an Escort album in the pipeline, here’s to hoping we don’t have to wait so long for that!

Partehardy have two new disco edits 12″s out right now. First up is Jamie 3:26’s Basement Edits 2. With the first volume already a classic, how would Jamie follow it up? The A side is a “dub” edit of Blue Magic’s “Welcome to the Club”, which takes the beats into deep house territory with little bits of the original peeking through here and there. This jam is solid enough, but it is really all about the B side edit of Fatback’s “Wicky Wacky”. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard Theo Parrish playing this one, it’s the demented almost James Brown sounding slow funky disco cut with the vocals “I’m looking for the party people…. the party people who love to get down!” The edit just makes the stripped down parts of the original more repetitive, which is all that was needed. Sick. The other new Partehardy is by Bill Hardy as Disco Conspiracy. The A side is an edit of Made in USA’s “Never Gonna Let You Go” as played in Chicago in the 80s, but again it is the B side that wins. I’m not sure of the original (little help here, anyone?) but it sounds like Michael Jackson singing “Have yourself a good good time, a real good time”. Lovely!

One more dope re-edit dropped recently, this time of a tune off of my wants list, Lisa Warrington’s “I Like the Way You Do It”. PPU are behind this one, and the original cut is featured on the A-side. Tom Noble’s edit makes the release for me though, taking the funky tune into hypnotic territory before finally letting the sweet chorus vocals drop.

Urban Tribe have been very busy this year, releasing a ton of music over a number of labels. My favorite up until now has been the LP on Mahogani. Now there is a new UT 12″ out on Mahogani, and it features my favorite single cut out of all the material they released this year. The A1 cut (all tracks are untitled) is a deep dubbed out house jam that sounds like nothing else out there. The subbass and reverbed chords you might associate with dub are here, but accented with digital synth bleeps and washes as well as a KDJ styled “we almost lost Detroit” rant in the breakdown. This is DEEP shit right here! The A2 is a freaked out MPC jam that would have fit in with the LP, while the B1 is a fastpaced gritty tune that is reminiscent of the Planet E record. B2 features a filtered drum loop and deep atmospherics along with KDJ chanting “313” and “What up doe”. These are certainly not the most rigidly structured tunes, but the A1 and B2 make this essential for those who love that wild Detroit shit. For those who need it straightforward, you will probably want to look elsewhere…

I passed on a couple of the recent Sistrum 12″s, not because they were “bad” but because they didn’t stand out enough for me. The new one by Patrice Scott entitled “Analog Dreams” is a return to form! Kicking off with a riff that reminds me of a more laidback “Knights of the Jaguar”, Patrice layers in soulful synth parts expertly, recalling the glory days of melodic Detroit techno but with modern production sensibilities. It may not be the most groundbreaking record you’ll hear this year, but it certainly is beautiful and it gets the job done. The flipside cuts are cool but can’t touch “Analog Dreams”!

Speaking of Detroit techno, Ibex has yet another new one out, this time on his own Ibex Music label which up until now had only that one release from a few years back. Like the previous release, this one shows the more electronic side of Tony Ollivierra, mixing house and melodic techno in that distinctly Detroit fashion. The title track of this EP, “Inner Light”, is my favorite with its ecstatic string work. “HBB Part 2” features a Fat Boys sample, not something you’re likely to hear many techno artists do! Overall, another nice display of Ibex’s musical talents that is definitely different from his housey material, so be sure to check it out!

Moving on to Chicago, Kstarke Records (run out of the sweet record shop of the same name, both owned by Kevin Starke) is mining some of those old reels that were banged out in the 80s but have never seen full releases. KR-002 features previously unavailable mixes of The It’s “Donnie” and Fingers Inc.’s “A Path”. The version of “Donnie” features pumped up jacking drums that seem to run overtop of the entire version that we are all familiar with. I’m not sure which versions of “The Path” I am already familiar with, but the Virgo Trax one that appears on the B side here is a stripped down simple version of the classic Larry Heard and Robert Owens cut. KR-003 appears to be original versions of tracks by Nick “Non Stop”, both of which came to later fame through Farley versions. The A side is a REALLY rough version of what would become “House Nation” on Dance Mania, while the B Side is “Jack My Body”, but a different mix from the versions by Nick and Farley that actually ended up coming out. Both releases are very raw, heavy on the tape hiss and with harsh highs and mids in some spots. If you’re a fan of the Jackmaster Hater or Let’s Pet Puppies releases, you will dig these as well!

One final record, this one actually from last year though it was always out of stock when I tried to get it: Souphiction presents Missing Linkx. “Who To Call” is nothing less than classic piano-led house music, as deep and soulful as any European label has released and then some. Again, there really isn’t much to say about this, just listen and then try to find a copy!