Rai Scott – Clarinet Moods – No More To Roam

IT was only the other day I was thinking to myself that you really don’t get enough clarinet in house music. Then blow me along comes the new solo EP from the sublimely-talented Rai Scott –  she of Inner Shift Music fame – absolutely brimming with the bleedin’ lesser-spotted woodwind wonder.

Honestly though, the Edinburgh-based artist’s charming Clarinet Moods, only the second EP on the already-promising No More To Roam – sister label to Contrast-Wax – is not only ridiculously good, it’s also a bit of a breath of fresh air in a world dominated by sterile, lowest-common-denominator dance-music.

The title track comes in two versions; sultry and even more sultry. Well, officially the Melody Mix and the Lazy Dub but both take low-slung hot and steamy house music to the borders of sexy before actually straying into late-night Channel 4 adult foreign film territory. Not that I’ve ever seen any. Honest.

Both takes on the same tune are seriously enchanting, haunting and drop-dead gorgeous. Scott and the folks behind No More To Roam both deserve great credit for sticking to their guns and putting quality to the fore rather than a knee-jerk commercial impulse to include a ‘banger’.

Move To The Front does wrap up this super little package with a nice little gear change though – the closest we come to banger here but still nothing to break sweat over mind – with layers of rolling bassline, percussion and ethereal synth pointing the way to the dance-floor.

Check out:

No More To Roam @ Soundcloud
Clarinet Moods @ Juno

Various Artists – Special Series 01 – Hizou Deep Rooted Music

OTHER than ‘hola’, ‘cerveza’ and ‘el ritmo de la noche’ – a throwback to my hedonistic young raving days and a very vague recollection of a long-forgotten Balearic stormer rather than some Eurodance pap, honest guv – my Spanish skills are pretty ropey. Shame, because not only do I love the country, its culture and folks but I also have a real thing for the nation’s finer champions of the deep house.

An increasingly significant figure in that movement is the Mallorca-based Satore, owner of both the Hizou and Future Reactions imprints, the man behind the short-run vinyl pressing venture WeRecordVinyl and first-rate producer in his own right too.

Here he launches the first in a special series of ultra-limited edition vinyl releases focusing on a rather different side to his taste. It’s clearly a more techno leaning and, in a broader sense, European vibe compared with the main label, which is heavily influenced by the classic house sounds of Chicago and Detroit.

But fear not because it’s still deep and it’s still bloody good.

My manlove for the producer known as W&P Hgg [aka Hugo Giner] and his Valencia-based label Cornuta Sound is well documented across t'internet. So to see him turn up again on another of the imprints I cherish is almost too much for me to bear. Besides myself doesn’t even get near it. Moreover, his contribution Techno Is Back is a superb and delicately balanced barnstormer with a massive dose of funk and soul thrown into the mix to keep those of us onside who are a little afraid of the word ‘techno’.

Mind you, despite my enduring admiration of Mr Giner, I have to confess to a severe crush on Speak My Language by the debuting Ithkuil [clever title and artist name link-up from a very smart and talented producer. Go Google]. The track itself is a beautifully understated and melancholic number that like all the best productions offers a little something for the soul, mind and, of course, feet. Absolutely gorgeous.

The Gauss duo of Owen Jay and Natan H simply pick up from where they left off with previous top-notch releases on their own self-titled label and British imprint Contrast Wax. Diversey River Bowl is yet more seriously weighty raw-as techno with a melodic core.

Finishing off with a flourish is Aalto, a dreamy and darn catchy acid-flecked offering from the excellent Jaime Read [aka LHAS] and that man Jay again.

Currently available to order direct from Hizou right here, then eventually via Juno, show the label some love and snap up a collector’s piece worth pushing the boat out for.

Check out:

Hizou

WeRecordVinyl

Hizou @ Facebook
Special Series 01 @ Juno

Various Artists – Big & Tall – Soul Print Recordings

LET’S be frank, Serbia doesn’t readily spring to mind when thinking ‘deep house’. Go on. Be honest. It doesn’t, does it? But the folks at Soul Print Recordings are having a real stab at changing all that.

Fair play to them too. In only a handful of years the Belgrade-based collective has released a solo EP apiece from Chicago stalwart Brian Harden and France’s finest Life Recorder, as well as enlisted Anaxander, Andy Ash, Deep Space Orchestra and Simoncino for remix action. They clearly mean business.

For this the fourth outing, the Big & Tall EP, the imprint has secured talent from across Europe, Japan and right on its own doorstep to present a real belter of a five-track release.

Side one is all about the deepArtSounds representatives. The excellent Allstarr Motomusic [aka George Btp] is in-house producer and creative director behind the Switzerland-based label, while up-and-coming Japanese artist Tominori Hosoya [aka Tomi Chair] has guested for the Zurich outfit.

Here the two are bang in form once again with a couple of real beauties. George Btp wears his musical heart on his sleeve as Allstarr Motomusic and his well-documented influences [read about them here, there and everywhere] are clear on the ear with Get Da; you can make out a little Ron Trent and indeed Prescription in general, discern a touch of Anthony Nicholson and catch a smattering of Glenn Underground. Classic, soulful house music. George would make no apologies for that and neither should he do so. Timeless.

Hosoya’s take on the deep house oeuvre, God Bless Us, is more insistent and punchy but every bit as soul-warming and pleasing.

Over on side two there’s a triple treat. Much experienced duo Owen Jay and Melchior Sultana [of UQ and Batti Batti fame] renew their fruitful partnership with the beauteous Recollections Of Detroit. It pretty much does what it says on the tin, the track being an evocative and soulful nod to the Windy City’s finest.

Diego Gamez, who also has previous with Underground Quality, turns in another fine effort too with the delicate, melodic and most satisfying Bon Nuit. Not to be out shone by the others, one of the label’s very own bosses, Petkovski, wades in with Red Sparkles, yet another divinely deep and sultry offering which, yes as it happens, sparkles. Enough said.

Check out:

Soul Print Recordings

Soul Print @ Bandcamp

Big & Tall EP @ Juno

Lanoche – Inmensamente – So Unreal

IF it’s Spanish, deep and vinyl-only then I’m all over it like a rash.

Debuting Madrid-based imprint So Unreal had me right from the off without even knowing it. Still, it certainly helps if the release in question is a bit tasty too. Fortunately the Inmensamente EP from newcomer Lanoche is exactly that.

Even so, if ever an opening track from a brand new label was going to scream ‘buy me’ to these ears then it is Te Quiero. It’s a refined, classy and beautifully crafted hunk of deepness that grooves along just nicely and is laden with ambient, atmospheric and ethereal undertones. One of the best cuts to hit my turntable so far this year. 

Extasis is no makeweight either. A burbling bassline and edgy, leftfield aesthetic, however, are the order of the day here. Even so, despite eschewing the smooth sophistication of the lovely Te Quiero, it’s still a super little number. 

Having wooed the audience into a false sense of security with the inspired deep house of Te Quiero and Extasis, side two is the 14-minute title track, a strangely beguiling and alluring journey into lo-fi experimentation and film soundtrack territory. Not to everyone’s taste no doubt, but well worth staying the distance.

Check out:

Inmensamente EP @ Juno

Lanoche on Facebook

Andy Vaz – House Warming – Yore Records

HOUSE music and the long player haven’t always been the cosiest of bedfellows. From the year dot there has been a school of thought that the genre doesn’t lend itself to the album format and that it was designed strictly for clubs and couldn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t work in the comfort of your own home.

But rendering an LP as simply two or three 12” records, or a series of independently-released twelves such as Fred P alter ego Black Jazz Consortium’s Codes & Metaphors and Frank & Tony’s Presents collection, has given that theory an almighty boot into touch. Not only that but the market for – or at least the desire to produce – house albums appears to be in very rude health indeed.

Just a brief glance at my own relatively recent purchases/needs/wants illustrates that point: Moomin, Melchior Sultana, Brawther, Baaz and the aforementioned Fred P to name a few. That list could of course stretch much longer. More importantly, the relevance and quality of house music albums has never been better.

Entering the fray then, though an old hand when it comes to the long player, is head of Cologne-based Yore Records, Andy Vaz, with this his third vinyl album.

Handsomely conceived and executed, pleasing on both the eye and ear, House Warming is truly a thing of beauty. From the opening strains of the cheeky and angular eponymous opening intro, a musical red herring rather than a portent of things to come [take a gander here], to the grand finale that is the rousing Infinite Monkey Theorem, there’s something for everyone of a house-bent here and much to wallow in and gorge yourself on.

You want seriously-soulful emotive house dripping in quality, Vaz has got it for you. Check out Nobody (featuring Eva Soul) and My Emotions. Fancy a little light acid-tinged action without a hint of cliché? Vaz has got that covered too – check out Help Me, Oppidum Ubiorum and the mighty Want U Back. And for straight-up honest-to-goodness proper house music, and I do mean proper, Vaz is again your man: Things & Strings, personal favourite Smiling Guitars and, not forgetting, the chunky title track itself.

But then anyone who has taken even a passing interest in the man’s music in recent years – if you haven’t, shame on you – would expect nothing less from him. As head honcho, in-house producer and general creative force behind the consistently brilliant Yore, Vaz has been around long enough to know what it takes to put together a house album with both sincerity and style. All killer no filler is generally the phrase du jour on such occasions but for once it really is true.

Listen. Buy. Enjoy.

Check out:

Yore Records online

Andy Vaz on Facebook

House Warming @ Juno

deepArtSounds: Part Three

WITHOUT music, life would be a mistake. That’s what Nietzsche reckoned. And he was dead clever. Then again it already seems to be the mantra by which George Boutopoulos lives his life. It’s in his DNA, you see.

What else explains his evangelical commitment to the cause stretching back to a young clubber in late eighties Switzerland through to serious – and we mean serious – record collector onto DJ, producer and multiple label owner including his latest baby, the quite brilliant Zürich-based deepArtSounds which he co-runs.

Having witnessed seismic changes in how music is produced, distributed and consumed over the past thirty years since first stepping into a nightclub in his hometown, no one would have blamed Boutopoulos for retreating to his favourite armchair with his headphones on after bringing down the curtain on his first two imprints, Moto Music and No Acting Vibes.

Not so. Instead he plotted how to do a record label different, better, proper. The result was deepArtSounds, a highly enviable imprint launched in earnest a mere four years ago and yet already jam-packed with classic, timeless, soulful electronic music from a mouthwatering roster: Ron Trent, Anthony Nicholson, Above Smoke, Dubbyman, Jenifa Mayanja and more. Enough said.

In the third and final part [catch up with parts one and two here and there] of our deepArtSounds feature, the charming Boutopoulos talks to bringdownthewalls about what lies ahead for the label, the Madrid documentary and the importance of [being] Ernie.

Why did you feel the need to launch deepArtSounds? And why did it take you five years to get your first release out?

After closing Moto Music and No Acting Vibes, I remained related and committed to house music through buying records and DJing. Honestly, it took years to accept the new digital world, not only the new formats such as MP3 but also the new medias: MySpace, websites, Facebook.

The transition to this new era was not that easy. I still clung on to those “good ol’ times” but I knew something must change. I mean, I wanted to act again, but I needed to re-organise myself. By 2007, I started to mix my own digital podcasts, called deepArtSounds, and they became very popular and requested. It encouraged me to launch a vinyl label under the same name and I wanted to share it with my former label partner Roberto [Pistolese] and my friend Okan [Akpinar].

In reality, the main activity of deepArtSounds still remains to broadcast and to spread our mix podcasts, on MotionFm.com [check it].

So who does what at deepArtSounds?

I’m kind of ‘art director’, trying to give the label a face and a direction. I am responsible for most artist signings and for the medias: design, website, promo videos, publicity etc.

Roberto is handling the entire process of production: end-mastering, manufacturing, distribution, promo shipping etc. Okan is more into the podcast thing. At the end we are a good team who help each other and without any hierarchy. Everybody knows exactly what his role is.     

You seem to have had a clear vision of what you wanted to do and achieve with the label. What was that plan?

There was no master plan, but yes, since the beginning I had a clear vision. It’s not only about releasing good music on vinyl. It’s also about having a great time together and also getting in contact with new people, labels and artists. To build new projects and collaborations, even family, as we did with the guys from Madrid.

For us it is important to reflect pureness and honesty. Listening to the music that we release you will notice a certain naturalness. We don’t really care about trends and movements. We just want to release music that was created from the bottom of the artist’s heart. And sure, it must sound deep and soulful!

You debuted with Ernie's superb Origami Town. How did that come about?

As we started the label, we needed food for the first release. We already had an eye on the Spanish deep house scene. We contacted Downbeat and Minuendo Recordings for setting off a project. Ernie responded to our email and he was amazed about our background and long-standing history.

Ernie is indeed a nice guy that we really admire, not only as a producer but also as a person. He connected and introduced us to his big family/kingdom that he has created over the last ten years. He still remains a key figure for the label.

We told him that we liked his beats and deep chords and asked him to produce the first deepArtSounds vinyl. We then took the plane to Madrid to meet him and to talk about the project. We had our ideas about how it should be and sound, but we assured and promised to give him as much freedom musically as he needed.

And then he created the brilliant Origami Town!  

The Spanish connection, and in particular Madrid, is strong. Why is that?

As I said earlier, it all started with Ernie. But we already felt huge potential in Spain. The Spanish underground deep house scene is more related to the US sound, which matched our taste. At first we thought the Deep Explorer label was based in the US!

In my forthcoming film documentary about the deep house scene in Madrid, I try to explain the reason for Madrid’s musical connection to the US.

In Madrid I always feel like I’m at home because my musical roots are the same.

The other reason why we like Madrid is the cuisine and the wine. It’s definitely an added bonus.

You mentioned the documentary you’re making, Madrid Exploring Underground. Having seen clips online it honestly looks fantastic. Tell us more.

It is something that makes me curious. I feel very close to them [Madrid’s deep house players] because of my similar ideas and preferences as well as the role of always being an outsider. We grew up in different countries with a different culture, but we share the same love for classic deep house that is without doubt strongly related to the US.

I have my own story in Zürich to tell, and they have their story. Do we have similar points of view? Do we have similar feelings? I have to find it out [watch the trailer here].   

You’ve set your standards already very high at deepArtSounds in a short space of time. So where do you and the label go from here?

We still keep an eye on our existing artists. We don’t want to have as many artists as other labels. Humility, continuity and consistency are the key words of the label. We are still on our mission and we are grateful to work with outstanding producers.

DeepArtSounds was not created to be an ego thing. It is all about spreading a message in the form of deep music. Meanwhile, the bandwidth of artists in our catalogue is already enormous.

Anthony Nicholson is our outstanding ‘superstar’ and he is very connected to the label. But we also support younger ambitious producers such as Giovanni Damico or Tominori Hosoya. There is more coming in the near future.

We will have more focus on albums. Anthony Nicholson’s latest album will be released soon. Then also this year we will have another album from a great artist, which I can’t announce yet.

Both the Codes Of Sacrifice various artists EP [read the review here] and Anthony Nicholson’s Essential Plates Volume 1 are currently available, plus we have coming up Jenifa Mayanja’s Human Nature EP featuring a remix from Trinidadian Deep.

Then I am also working on my own mini album to release this year. We are also in a serious project with the very talented singer Sarignia Bonfà, who contributed on my Allstarr Motomusic EP for Deep Explorer, Beauty & Simplicity Vol. 1.

One day the mission of deepArtSounds will be accomplished, but I hope the way there is not straightforward. Let’s hope there are still some interesting hurdles to overcome.

Check out:

deepArtSounds online

deepArtSounds @ Motion FM

Watch the trailer for Madrid Exploring Underground here

Codes Of Sacrifice is available here

Essential Plates Volume 1 is available here

Deymare/Satore/Yusuke Yamamoto – The Dead Bullfighters – Minuendo Recordings

EVERY time I write about Ernie I feel like a gawpy teenager penning an anonymous love letter to the subject of their desire. I’m totally smitten. Who can blame me though? Virtually everything the man lends his considerable talents to – whether as a DJ, producer or label curator – is beautifully coated with a fine dusting of pure quality.

So here we go again. Swoon. Ernie’s Madrid-based Minuendo return with yet another carefully collated and crafted various artists EP that is, as always, bang on and shows many a wannabe label how a deep house release should be done.

Featuring faces old and new to the imprint, The Dead Bullfighters is a fabulous four-track treat.

Fabulous Finnish producer Deymare [who was responsible for the stonking Rhythm Box EP on Minuendo four years back] takes over side one with a couple of choice cuts. Keeping the tempo firmly in check, both Meditation and Rise are deep house of the more cerebral yet groovy kind.

Dynamic Spanish producer Satore is no stranger to the label either [the underrated and super-limited A Winter’s Tale was released by the imprint in 2011] and the Palma-based artist even has history with us too [check it here]. His contribution, Moving Soul, is exactly the kind of funk-heavy, prime percussive workout many of us have come to expect from him.

Rapidly making a name for himself and making his Minuendo debut is Japanese producer Yusuke Yamamoto (Série Limitée Records/Canary). A run out on Minuendo will do his credentials no harm at all and his gorgeously chugging My House is an apt and fitting calling card to round off another must-have from Madrid.

Check out:
The Dead Bullfighters @ Juno