Sophia May - Come Back(Nervous)Frankie Knuckles and Eric Kupper provide bouncy mixes for an inoffensive and slickly produced vocal - but it's all about as underground as a telegraph pole.
Steve Angello - Monday(Size)Match power with melody and you have a winning club track formula - and that's exactly what Angello does here with a strong, euphoric rising note hook, surefooted beats and a vibe that's very much of the moment. Ephemeral, but that's the nature of it.
Matthias Heilbronn & Joeski - Stuck In A Dream(Maya Records)Adopted and native New Yorker respectively, Matty and Joeski have both made their mark individually over the years but with this collaboration they've scored something greater than the sum of the parts. Striking a heavy blues tone with a male vocal and haunting guitar part, 'Stuck In A Dream' combines Heilbronn's soulful roots with Joeski's penchant for Latin power, the latter manifested in a neat set of beats. A floating flute part suggests something of a La Mezcla influence, one that's more apparent in the dub. But don't be fooled, this has personality enough of its own.
Daniel Bovie & Roy Rox - Preacher(True House Music)Bovie & Rox's 'Stop Playing With My Mind' and 'Love Me' have been stealth hits for those in the know who appreciate the duo's idiosyncratic style of soft male vocals backed with stark but musical production. 'Preacher' does have a little something of the latter, but Haze is something of a force himself and his style edges out ahead here as Bovie & Rox match his '90s classic reference with one of their own. Harry Choo Choo delivers a mix at the tougher end of his spectrum, though he can't resist banging in some of the piano from the original two thirds of the way through. Kenquo's deep mix takes a nicely contrasting approach.
Brooklyn Friends - Gloria's Groove/Obedience(Nite Grooves)The latest in David Morales' revived and ramped up Brooklyn Friends series is a double delight. Percussion and track heads should go directly to 'Gloria's Groove', a meaty dark room dub that displays tough basslines, acidic rumbling and insistent beats, the latter spiced with the Latin flavours typical of previous excursions. 'Obedience' switches tack to a richly musical tapestry, a vintage Def Mix style bassline providing the structure for some attractive mute horn vibes and Satoshi Tomiie's grand, orchestral piano doodlings.
Soulfricans - Sex In Africa(Launch)New York's Jovonn is one of those underground producers who's been in the game a long time without ever really enjoying much of a profile. 'Sex In Africa' kind of explains both points; it's good, but not crowd-pleasingly good. Obvious hooks are in short supply, as are any gimmicks that might make it stand out, things that leave other producers, certain DJs and true deep house heads as the few who can appreciate the Jovonn style of building layers of rhythms and textures. And that style is in full colour on 'Sex In Africa', an insistent, rambling and complex instrumental that fancies itself as Fela Kuti goes house. Impressive.
Andre Lodemann - Still Dreaming(Freerange)The sign of a properly good label is not its ability to put out big records by big names, but to unearth good tracks by new and undiscovered artists. On that count Freerange definitely delivers. Andre Lodemann may not be an especially new producer but he'll probably forgive us for saying he's still relatively unknown; his debut for the label poses the question why. 'Still Dreaming' boasts smooth, deep house beats with subtle percussion, pretty chords and rhythmic pads, stripped, deepened and darkened in the 'Soul Phriction Mix', while 'Whatever I Do' strikes a more body-shaking imperative with low-slung beats and cool keys.
Harry Choo Choo Romero - 'Night At The Black (Remixes)'(Bambossa)Romero returns to the scene of a former glory, 2001's 'Night At The Black'. And this time around things are a little more fleshed out from the 'Original' and 'Black Beats' mixes of the first release. Harry takes first bite himself, delivering a canny updated version that keeps the jazz-rock fusion feel to the fore in the context of a smooth, fluid mix that steps away from his recent angular electro grooves, the latter explored more closely in Jose Nunez' mix. Also in on the action are Jerry Ropero and Dean Coleman, Ropero opting for a clean, clipped groove and Coleman a fuller, psychedelic disco sound. Satisfaction at the second 'Night At The Black' is assured.
Palermo Disko Machine - Vesuvia/Theme of Palermo Disko Machine(Vulture)The lower tempo and electro-jazz-funk of 'Vesuvia' make it more of an intriguing whimsy than anything, but Alan Braxe has things fully operational for 'Theme of Palermo Disko Machine'. Admittedly, the two-and-a-half-minute synth pads intro is something of an over-indulgence but once we get going Falke shows real feeling for his warped Italo disco sound, lavishing it with a variety of basslines from funky slap disco to analogue pre-acid and keeping things snappy with a sequence of cameo percussion parts. Even the bass drum that sounds like a wet cardboard box being kicked kind of fits. Definitely not part of the crowd.
Akabu - Sax My Bitch Up(Z)Old school ravers will rise up as one on hearing this classic bassline. Yep, the magpie-like Dave Lee strikes once again with the original flavours. But as the title suggests, 'Sax My Bitch Up' has more to it than just a fat bassline. There is also, you guessed it, some wicked saxophone work from The Sunburst Band's Jim Knight. Audiojack tweaks and loops it for a steelier mix that changes the bass and gets all hypnotic, while Dave comes back for another bite with his alternative 'Piano My Bitch Up' and 'Drug My Bitch Up' mixes and bonus track 'Freak Out The Freaks'. Very cool track work.
