Recent Jams By Spinna, Kai Alcé, Andrés

Kai Alcé’s NDATL label began celebrating its 10th birthday in 2018. I can remember eagerly ordering the very first release right when it came out from Opus Music in NYC (which was yet to be known as Downtown304), hard to believe it has been so long. Kai is also doing a series of parties to commemorate it. Jwan and I made the trek up to Detroit back in November to see Spinna, Norm Talley, and Kai play at Marble Bar and it was a great night. Lovely warm vibes inside that contrasted nicely with the cold snow outside, kind of a metaphor for Detroit house music in general.

One of the highlights was when Spinna dropped this one jam that immediately stood out in a set full of great tracks. It was kind of a combo of soulful house production style but an oddly abstract almost acidic synth line. Neither Jwan nor I recognized it and we had to hunt it down. Only recently when Spinna’s newly released EP with Hugo LX on NDATL was announced was I able to discover that it was one of his own jams, “Prickly”. The B2 Banger strikes again! The other joints on the EP are quite nice as well, “Liquid Keys” sporting an old Fingers style bass sound with spacey keyboard solos running through it and “Meteor Mind” with its soulful trumpet solo which is sure to be a hit on the dancefloor. Spinna has been on quite a roll with his house productions recently and this is another addition to that strong run.

There’s another record floating around out there. No information is on the blank silver label but the 3K2018 catalog number etched into the runout grooves gives you the first clue as to whose music is contained within. Remixes by Kai, Karizma, and Kemit are the source of the 3 Ks, and each of them knocks it out in a different way. Kai teams up with Stefan Ringer once again for his remix of the late 80s new jack swing classic “Groove Me” by Guy. The updated house stylings work incredibly well with the vocals, those unfamiliar with the original would easily be forgiven for thinking it was a brand new jam. Throw in some strong arrangement skills and nice instrumental chops and it’s clear this is yet another vocal house classic from Kai. It’s almost unfair to let him get his hands on vocals!

Karizma also flexes on a vocal track, this time a more recent song “Lonely Town” by Flako from 2011. Originally a very slow and moody R&B type jam, Karizma adds his customary rugged drums and some freakout synth that bangs nicely in contrast to the melancholic vocals. Kemit takes on Robert Glasper’s instrumental jazz piano joint “Enoch’s Meditation” and turns it into a deep but uptempo soulful house burner. If you are a fan of that area of music where deep house and neo soul cross over and around each other, this record is certain to be one of the biggest for you this year.

While I gave it a little mention in my 2018 year end wrap up, having more time to listen to it I feel like it’s important to give Andrés’ D.ATLien EP on NDATL another shout out here. The Latin side heavily features Dez’s percussion skills, his MPC mastery on “Ensolardo (Sunny)” and his hand percussion on “Café Con Léché”, giving both a radiant, brisk vibe that should help keep the winter blues away. The Northwest Side takes it back to the D, with the heavier house drums, synth basses, and soul samples that you expect from Andrés. “D-Town Connection” is my favorite on the EP thanks to the catchy horn sample, but “I Can’t Hear You” is also dope and a better version of his classic sound than the last couple La Vida records. And as a special treat, an instrumental of the Andrés produced “Come 2 Me” from the last Moodymann album is also included.

NDATL and Kai Alcé in general are keeping up a ridiculously high level of quality, with underground hits consistently coming out. When it comes to showing the depth and breadth of modern black American house music, I’m not sure there is a better representative out there right now. Kai is connected with most of the leading lights in house music and he appears to be trying to work with all of them in some way, shape, or form. And the results are always worth checking.