10 Cuts: Italo-disco
While trends come and go, few genres fell further from grace than Italo-disco. For the uninitiated, the term refers to a style of ultra-garish electronic pop produced in Italy in the late 70’s and...
View ArticleGhost – The Club
El-B was one of the key players in the transition from stripped UK garage to dubstep in the early 2000’s, a role celebrated in a superb Tempa compilation from ’09. After making a name with the soulful...
View ArticleFunkycan – CGN – GZT
We’ve profiled the ava. collective before, and this track from one of the label’s first releases still remains a firm favourite. Plucked from Funkycan’s superbly titled debut EP, ‘We Were Raised To...
View ArticleDon’t DJ – Authentic Exoticism
Score:8Overall ScoreCultural critique has never found a great deal of expression in electronic music. While genres like blues, hip hop or folk have long been concerned with social change, electronic...
View ArticleEQD – Equalized #111 04
Shed is one of the few producers whose music you can identify from just a kick drum. The German producer’s style is simple yet apparently inimitable, judging by the throngs of similar yet inferior...
View ArticleStereociti – Lost Land
Score:5Overall ScoreBerlin-based producer Ken Sumitani takes a considered approach to dance music. Over his eight-year career he’s put out 6 EPs and 2 albums, each packed with songs that are diligently...
View ArticlePools – Skate
Today’s tune is a serious secret weapon from Los Angeles’ Pools duo, aka Thee Mike Bee and DJ Morsecode. It was released on the seemingly-defunct Spills label, who kicked off with an Andrés EP but...
View ArticleBenedek – Coolin’
Score:8.5Overall ScoreLos Angeles’ Nicholas Benedek stepped out as one of modern funk’s most intriguing voices with his 2013 debut album. The untitled LP for People’s Potential Unlimited was an...
View Article10 Cuts: UK Garage
UK Garage started as a hybrid of American Paradise Garage grooves and the British soundsystem culture in the mid 90’s, and from there generated a boggling array of sub-genres and reinventions, from the...
View ArticleChiwoniso Maraire – Zvichapera
Several weeks before she died at the age of 37, the great Zimbabwean singer and mbira player Chiwoniso Maraire stopped by the studio to play a song. Her keening rendition of Zvichapera, a song made...
View ArticleMarch Roundup 2016
Our favourites from the bumper crop of house, balearic, techno and electro we heard this month (plus a few from earlier in the year). Tracklist: D.K. – Memories [LP REVIEW] Jayda G feat. Alex Dash –...
View ArticleDance – Still
Blank Mind have an impressive dedication to the outer reaches of dance music, particularly mining the UK tradition. Their releases can also be oddly prescient – this gem from 2012 prefigured the...
View ArticleAgo – For You
A blinding slice of disco funk from Italy circa 1982. The vocals are a little hilarious, from the man’s ropey accent to the near-nonsense lyrics of the verse, but they’re undeniably catchy. Meanwhile...
View ArticleJayda G – Jaydaisms
Score:8Overall ScoreJayda Guy is the newest addition to Vancouver’s unfailing house scene, who burst out as a selector last year with her Freakout Cult parties and an ace addition to the Trushmix...
View ArticleBarnt – Under His Own Name But Also Sir
Barnt’s ‘His Name’ EP, released through Will Bankhead and Joy Orbison’s Hingefinger imprint, is best remembered for the spartan drum workout of Chappell, which has pummelled many a dancefloor into...
View ArticleBen Morris – Polarna Flyger Till Kuba
Mr. Tophat’s Junk Yard Connections label is one of Sweden’s finest house outposts. Alongside great Various Artists EPs and Mount Liberation Unlimited’s legendary debut from 2014, Tophat sources fresh...
View ArticleJohn Swing – Get Rhythm
Score:8Overall ScoreJohn Swing is a bit of an unsung legend of the European house scene. As a label-head he’s a pro, manning the Relative stable with his brother EMG alongside their sprawl of...
View ArticleOndo Fudd – Blue Dot
Score:9Overall ScoreCowbells clatter in the distance. A synth note shimmers into existence and dissipates like a mirage. A clarinet calls out, uncertain, over an undulating landscape of field samples....
View ArticleEfdemin – Parallaxis (Traumprinz’s Over 2 The End Version)
The reputation of Traumprinz and his Giegling label continue to hold strong. It’s not just because they make great house music. The rise of the subdued German stable shows something more important –...
View ArticleLeon Vynehall – Rojus: Designed To Dance
Score:7Overall ScoreLeon Vynehall’s ascent in the UK house scene has been marked by a series of winning transformations. They aren’t drastic – warm grooves have been on offer from day one. But from his...
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