Quarantine Record Acquisitions

Stolen from interwebs

It’s been a minute! Last time I posted about new music was just after everything shut down back in March. I won’t bore everybody with rehashing how poorly things have gone here in the States since then, but thankfully Pittsburgh has mostly dodged the worst of the virus thus far.

I’ve been very pleased to see the number of quality releases picking up again recently. It seems like even if we won’t be going back to dance in clubs anytime soon, there will be plenty of heat to drop when we finally do.

Jon Dixon – Times of Change – 4evr 4wrd

Jon Dixon has basically been on a rampage for the last few years. Seemingly every release of his is an underground hit, and this one is no exception. In fact it seems possible that the title track could be that one-every-few-years hi tech soul track that comes out of Detroit and blows up everywhere, even with few dancefloors. Starting out with Dixon’s excellent chord work, the track builds until De’Sean Jones’ sax solo lets rip along with emotional strings. Simple enough to appeal to any DJ but packing that extra something that Detroit is known for, this one is definitely one of my favs of the year so far. The rest of the EP is really nice too, especially “Move 4wrd” featuring Britt Frappier on vocals. You might remember her from the excellent remix Jon did for her group Small Creatures’ song “Black Rose” from last year, another future hi tech soul classic.

IG Culture Presents LCSM – Earthbound – Super-Sonic Jazz

IG Culture is one of the people who created bruk/broken beat/whatever you wanna call it. He has many ill jams in his very deep catalog, but this album is so good that it stands out even amongst all that quality. On this triple LP he assembles a crack team of instrumentalists and takes the proceedings on a tour of dance rhythms. From the swing of 2-step to the thump of house and stopping many places in between, this album mixes UK Black dance music with jazz in a way that feels very fresh and vital for 2020. It’s hard to even pick a favorite track! I just play the full album all the way through and there are no weak links or tracks that drag. Perfect music for this long hot summer.

Various Artists – The First Circle – Neroli

This compilation is another record that has defined the sound of my summer so far. Neroli is known for a variety of soulful dancefloor styles, but here they call on some of their favorite artists to give them something a little deeper and more suited for home listening. With names like Dego and Ian O’Brien involved, it’s really not surprising that they all came through. A lineup like this might raise your expectations to what seems like an unreachable level, but the results actually blew those expectations away for me. This is very mature music, showing the lineage of techno’s futuristic soul and jazz vibes and taking it right up to today. Keeping it on one LP (with very nice artwork!) also somehow adds to the feeling that you’re holding a modern classic electronic album. Kicking off with K15’s “Disillusioned” really sets the tone with his soulful beatless melodies. Kirk Degiorgio’s “Leave Everything Behind” might be the best track here, absurdly gorgeous music that reminds you just how long he has been doing this kind of thing. Linkwood closes the record with “Citrus”, pulsing with energy but never breaking out fully. Every track on here is dope, but you still really have to give it up to the programming which creates an emotional arc that hits the spot every time.

Teflon Dons – Teflon Dons Vs. The Si-Fan – Worldship Music

The relaunch of Worldship Music over the last few years has been a lovely development for those of us who are into dubby underground garage, bringing both new tracks and previously unreleased older material together that all fits perfectly. On this EP, Aaron Paar bridges the years over the course of three tracks. The A side is a very welcomed reissue of the previously VERY rare on vinyl “ Movements In The Opium Den (Reston Edit)”, which originally dropped all the way back in 1998. Adding to this on the flip are two jams that have never been heard before. “A Better Tomorrow 4” is plucked directly from the archives, while “Scorpion #3” has some horn from ISM favorite James Duncan added more recently. All in all, three excellent jams and it’s super limited, coming with an info sheet written by yours truly.

Darryn Jones presents Chi-Town – “Willing & Able” – Durty Truth

Darryn is known as one of Chicago’s deepest selectors, and in a city with DJs like Chicago has, that is really saying something. He has previously released a couple of edits including one on Al Tone and one on Fatty Fatty, but here he steps it up to another level. On this very limited and difficult to obtain 12” he brings us what must be one of the best edits of the last ten years in the title track “Willing and Able (Edit)”. He manages to distill so much feeling into just a few minutes that it’s undeniable that THIS is how the track should have always been. Sure to be a classic. The flip has two more electronic jams, one using a Liasons Dangereuses sample and mashing it with some vocals on “Gibberish”, while “Revolution” is a spoken word jacker. This is a very versatile record, one I really look forward to playing for a packed dancefloor.

Meftah – Information Travels Through E.P. – No Label

Meftah’s first appearance on vinyl was a 2019 remix of Amp Fiddler on Mahogani that he did with John Cloud. In 2020 however, he is taking matters into his own hands with his own unnamed label dropping an EP of original tracks. Meftah is a younger cat who has been coming up through the Detroit underground using a sampler and a handful of instruments to craft a variety of different sounds. On this record he touches on hiphop, broken beats, and house music with an underground flavor, crafting a nice flow between the styles and energies. Definitely keep your eye out for this one and anything further coming from this man!

Stefan Ringer – FWM 003 – FWM

Stefan has been pretty prolific over the past few years, but for me his best releases have been on his own FWM label. This continues to be the case on the third installment. His signature use of his own vocals is present on three of the tracks here, with A1 jam “DoU?” as the most obvious choice. “Love2U” closes out the record sounding like an old Theo Parrish B side, a slow and deep cut. But it’s on the B1 cut “Reach” where he invites Javonntte to do the vocals that is the highlight of the EP for me. Combining Stefan’s bumpy beats with Javonntte’s vocals works out very well, giving each a little different take on their established styles

?? ?– Three / Four / Five – Blacktongue

This one is the second release on the label (the first of which is also excellent), both by an unnamed mystery artist. Their modus operandi? Combining the musicality of West London with the sounds of Detroit and Chicago. If I was gonna guess who the artist is, I’d say it was someone whose name is on a number of other records in this post of reviews. But on these cuts the instrumentation is stripped back and the beat more steady and pronounced. “Three” is a nice soulful house jam, while “Four” is a drum machine and bass synth cut that leans towards classic techno. “Five” takes up UR style hi tech soul and does it very well. Both of the records on the label are limited vinyl only with nice art and design, worth hunting down as I can imagine these being secret weapon cuts for DJs who know what’s up. Mother Tongue in Italy is doing a great job!

Kyle Hall – The Shark EP – Forget The Clock

For the second record on his new Forget the Clock label, Kyle continues his venture into very musical and broken beat inspired house and techno. “Shark” kicks things off with some of the most sophisticated chords and instrumentation in his entire catalog, a definite step up for an artist that has been really fun to watch grow into where he is now. “Vexed” adds some of that old KMFH griminess back into the equation, crafting a nice fusion of his eras of production. This EP stands very nicely as a whole for home listening, another perfect summer record.

Mr. G – Positive Connection EP – NDATL

NDATL just goes from strength to strength. It is not at all surprising when any given release on the label is extra hot, or exceptional for the producer behind it. Kai’s reputation as a curator should be just as storied as his rep as a DJ or producer. This one is no exception, welcoming Mr. G to the label with an EP of straightforward house music that manages to elevate itself beyond the sum of its parts. Mr. G has many years in the game and serious knowledge of music, two attributes that help him create music that throws back to classic deep house and techno, but giving it that loopy and rugged twist that he is known for. All three main tracks will slay a dancefloor, but it’s the B2 “Time” and it’s raw sample chops that really do it for me.

Specter – Test Of Time – Secondhand Records

Specter returns with an EP for NYC shop Secondhand Records’ eponymous label, and unsurprisingly it contains funky and deep Chicago house music for the soul. Every record by this man feels like it is created outside of time, funneling that otherworldly feel of the best Burrell or Fingers jams and abstracting it out into something current. The A side jams lean heavily on melody, with thick atmospheres layered over top for a hazy vibe. The B side however is where “Cold Sweat” lies, and it is surely one of Spec’s best. Here he strips back the haze and reveals a minimal and bleepy but still soulful track. Byron the Aquarius adds some key wizardry on his remix which gives the track a more festive feeling, one that would be perfect for outdoor parties where such things are going down.

Omar S – Fuck Resident Advisor – Fxhe Records

Omar S is known for being outspoken and outlandish, but he is able to get away with it because he has the goods to back it up. On the hilariously titled Fuck Resident Advisor, he revisits the sample heavy production approach of some of his early records. “You Gotta Beat the Clock” flips a Sparks sample into a jacked out house beater, while “Simply” is a bassline led funk sampling joint like you’d have expected from him in 2004. The rest of the LP is solid if not as outstanding, but I’m definitely happy to have the less refined Omar S back, fucking with everybody’s expectations.

Various Artists – The Never Seen On Wax Jams Vol 1 – 2000 Black

While broken beat kinda fell off a lot of people’s radar in the mid 00s, Dego and the 2000 Black crew never stopped dropping gems. Some of those gems came on CD only releases, like the self titled Shokazulu album as well as 2000 Black’s A Next Set A Rockers and Tatham Mensah Lord and Ranks’s eponymous CD. This EP takes some of the highlights of these lost LPs and puts them together onto one record. “Sunstroke” and “Mr. Pickles” are definite standouts, but every track here is lovely, a real testament to how consistent and timeless these artists’ outputs have been over the years. This one is supposed to be very limited so don’t sleep!