A Bunch of New Records

I’ve been a bit quiet around here recently due to school actually requiring me to WRITE this semester (is it insane to miss EE classes?!?!!) combined with the quick turnaround on the Omar-S interview that just got me kind of sick of writing for a bit. But that didn’t stop me from buying a ridiculous number of hot new and used records over the past 2 weeks or so. I will have another post coming after this one to discuss the reactions to the Omar-S interview a bit, as well as his newest 12″ and the Fabric mix. I’ll get things started here with the new jams….

Shake – “Levitate Venice” EP – Morphine Records – It’s always an event when a new Shake record drops. It’s been a quiet couple of years or so from Mr. Shakir, with only his EP on Dust Science to tide us over. Finally, he’s back with a new 4 tracker on the Italian label Morphine, and it is a nice varied EP that will prove to be quite versatile. “Levitate” is the fucked-up funky joint like only Shake can do; you can see how he has influenced cats like Krikor and Soundhack. “Indagoo” is one for the deep house jocks, a repetitive bassy synth jam that would mix well with Omar-S and Patrice Scott records despite being nothing like either of their styles. The highlight of the record is “Space Probes” which was mixed by Sherard Ingram. Now there’s a cat who has been around and continues to make music across the spectrum while working with a variety of other artists. In Shake’s own words, “he hooked this track up!” Spaced out minimal electro like you would expect from the 313, this one will sound good in bass or techno sets. Possibly the most surprising track for me is the final cut “It Erased Me”, which features Shake banging out a harder minimal techno track in a pretty straightforward manner. What isn’t surprising is that it is dope, as sweet of a minimal techno record as I’ve heard in a while. The clean sounds and deep kick will make this essential for those cats who drop Rob Hood, Convextion, and Terrence Parker records all the time. Overall, an excellent return for Shake! I hope that album of his comes out soon, there’s so much fire on that one that it’s ridiculous.

V/A – Music Institute 20th Anniversary (Pt 1 Of 3) – NDATL Muzik – Kai Alcé’s NDATL label’s first two releases were both superb examples of modern US deep house with a live music element to them. For this compilation, he takes us back to the early days of Detroit’s techno scene when the legendary Music Institute provided a juice bar and banging tunes to those participants in the underground dance network. What is striking about the music offered here is how HOUSE it is, which really shouldn’t be surprising considering that two of the names most closely associated with the Music Institute are Alton Miller and Chez Damier, both of whom have tracks featured on this EP. The influence of Chicago on Detroit’s early days cannot be understated, and that comes through in every track on here, including the Derrick May joint. It’s almost criminal that tracks as good as these sat on the shelf for so long, but let’s be thankful that they got released today. I bought two copies, ’nuff said. I can’t wait to see what parts 2 and 3 have to offer!

Mr. White – “Aeroplane” – Black Market/Alleviated – Let me start this off by saying this: there is no “The Sun Can’t Compare” on this record. It would have been damn near impossible to create another track on that level, and to be honest, I don’t think they even tried. Instead, we get three new tracks that are all released under the name of Mr. White, so we can assume that this is a more clear representation of his own vision without being saddled with the name “Larry Heard” at the top of the record. Of course Larry does provide the music, and it is brilliant as expected. The problem lies in the songs themselves, which just don’t quite reach the level of other records out there. “Aeroplane” feels like a modern Italo cut with a Chicago twist, but without the great pop hooks that Kelley Polar anchors his albums with. The Loosefingers jam “What Is House?” is the closest touch stone for “Inside Your Mind (This House Is Home)”, which also features spoken vocals on top of a minimal acid track. The problem is that this one lacks the simplicity in the vocals that made “What Is House?” such an anthem. While none of the cuts is an instant classic, nor are they very original sounding, this is still not a bad EP based solely on the backing tracks which are 100% dope. A 12″ of instrumentals would be nice, but in the meantime I’m hoping that these joints will grow on me a bit as they are.

Azuni – City Look LP – Sthlmaudio Recordings – Ever since I first peeped the sound samples of this on Hard Wax last year, I REALLY didn’t want to like this album. Being a double LP import, the price of ordering this one was prohibitively expensive at the time so it was easy for me to say, “It’s just not that good.” But I kept it in the back of my mind, hoping that maybe it would come into one of the domestic shops and I could pick it up. Thanks to a strong dollar and whomever decided to stock this at Downtown304, it was available for a mere $18 at a time when I was doing an order with some extra cash in hand. Another poke through the sound samples confirmed it: this shit is pretty dope. I know there were a lot of European producers trying to ape old school US deep house in 2008, and most of that was amongst the weakest shit I heard all year. But something about this one nails it perfectly: the combination of the popping drums, the classic organ and synths, and the samples nails it. While none of the cuts stands out, each one could be lethal in the hands of a great deep house deejay who can work a track. So are things really so bad in ’09 that an album of eight deejay tools that could have come out 15 years ago is noteworthy? Nah, I think it’s simply a testament to the timelessness of those types of records. Some things never get old.

DJ Rahaan – Edits Vol. 2 – KAT – To be perfectly honest, I was not a huge fan of Rahaan’s edits on Jiscomusic or the first one on KAT. Not that they were terrible, I’m just very very picky about buying edits since I do love collecting and playing originals. Someone has to offer something outstanding to get me to pay attention. Right now, Rahaan is on a bit of a hot streak. His edit of Timmy Thomas is still doing much damage on dancefloors, but this one might even beat it. Primarily it is the edit of Kokomo’s “Use Your Imagination” that caught my attention. Rahaan lays down a beautiful extended edit of the jazzy and funky original that appeared on a very early promotional 12″ that should get people jumping quite easily. Herbie Mann’s version of LTG Exchange’s “Waterbed” is not nearly as hot as the original, but it catches a slightly more laidback vibe that works well with that ridiculously ill bassline. I’m not sure of the original track by the great AVI artist “The Grapefruit”, but Rahaan turns in another funky disco banger that will definitely work the floor.

Waajeed – The War LP Part 2 – Fat City – This one isn’t exactly “new” since it’s been out for nearly two years, but it’s new to me. I had forgotten about it when it came out, this one didn’t seem to be around as much as Part 1 was (which featured the track that hipped me to Tiombe Lockhart, “O’Bloody Days, O’Starry Nights On The Bowery”), so I never picked it up. I was reminded of this when he got booked to play in Pittsburgh this weekend, thus I was motivated to grab this one up before it got hard to find. Ms. Lockhart appears again on this one, but this time it’s a more psychedelic affair with distorted guitars and white noise atmospherics. Very nice. The great J Dilla checks in with a guitar heavy instrumental hiphop cut, as well as a verse on the Platinum Pied Pipers remix. Three fresh Waajeed instrumentals round out the EP. I’m super pumped to see him deejay this weekend, expect a full report next week….

Now for the old records……

Mr. Fingers – “What About This Love” – Alleviated Records

Jamie Principle – “Your Love” – Persona Records

Jesse Saunders – “Waiting On My Angel” – Precision

MK II Featuring Kevin Irving – “DSTM (Don’t Stop The Music)” – D.J. International Records

Four deeeeep 80’s Chicago classics. Records like this turn up so infrequently in Pittsburgh, it’s a treat to be able to pick them up. I think the first three don’t need anything else said about them, but the MK II cut is really underrated, a very nice deep joint.

Azoto – “Anytime or Place” – Ram’s Horn

Purple Flash – “We Can Make It” – Injection Disco Dance

Nick Straker – “Against The Wall” – Firebird

Cloud – “Steppin Out / Rico Rico” – Silvertown

These are grouped together for one reason: all still have their original sales tag on them which is from the legendary Importes, Etc. store in Chicago. All are from the early to mid 80’s, around the time the concept of “house music” began. MP3’s can’t fuck with that! The Purple Flash and Azoto are classic Italo grooves that mix in quite well with early house. Nick Straker’s “Against the Wall” is a silly good boogie jam with a sweet synth bass line. Cloud’s “Rico Rico” is a super fresh jazzy latin jam that is quite infectious, I have no idea how it is so slept on.

Grace Jones – “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For You) (Super Club Edits)” – Manhattan

Sharon Redd – “Can You Handle It? / In The Name of Love” – Prelude

Groove Committee – “I Want You To Know / Let’s Groove It” – Nu Groove

Taking it back to NYC, Larry Levan turns in a late 80’s disco mix of a Grace Jones track that was produced by Nile Rodgers. Francois K. does the deed to Sharon Redd on “Can You Handle It”, which also features rerubs of “In The Name of Love” by remix services Disconet and Hot Trax on the flipside. And Victor Simonelli bangs out some sample house on Nu Groove, “Let’s Groove It” in particular is a sound that Moodymann has since mined with the sampled drum loops over crowd noise working to increase the dancefloor’s energy.

State of Grace – “That’s When We’ll Be Free” – Profile

Charme – “Georgy Porgy” – RCA

Roy Ayers – “Don’t Stop the Feeling” – Polydor

Brainstorm – Journey to the Light LP – Tabu

Bernard Wright – Nard LP – GRP

State of Grace drops a funky electro boogie jam that was unfamiliar to me, but is quite catchy. Charme features Luther Vandross on vocals for their slow burning disco cover of Toto’s “Georgy Porgy” which is quite difficult to find on 12″ single. Roy Ayers’ “Don’t Stop the Feeling” is a soulful disco classic, as are the joints on Brainstorm’s LP such as “We’re On Our Way Home”. Bernard Wright absolutely crushes it on the Nard LP with tracks that have been sampled to death by hiphop producers. Each one is a pretty stellar early 80’s boogie track, I could see playing at least 4-5 of these cuts out regularly.

John Carpenter & Alan Howarth – Escape From New York (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Varèse Sarabande

Last but not least is this classic soundtrack from one of my favorite directors. The music helps make this a great film, and I’m pleased to finally own the whole thing after having had the 12″ of “The Duke Arrives -The Barricade / The President At The Train” for a number of years.

I also ordered a couple classic deep house 12″s off of Discogs the other day, the two EPs by N.Y. House’n Authority that I didn’t already have: “Restoration/Renovation” and “Dyckman House” EPs. Both are dope as hell with that deep, minimal house music that makes Rheji Burrell’s records so sought after. I can’t wait to get these in the mail!