House Is A Feeling

I’m really enjoying some of the releases and tracks that have come out in the last 2 weeks or so, which is good because I’m waiting to start my new job and I’ve 4 weeks of doing nothing to go! Some of these I like so much that I was going to give them individual posts, but then I thought it might be better to collate stuff instead, just for convenience’s sake. So in no particular order, here’s my chart.

1. Steinhoff and Hamouda-Tonight Will Be Fine EP (Smallville)

Smallville is one of those really satisfying labels that just brings great releases in a low key way from the very first thing they do. It’s one of those labels you find because the name or the artwork distinguishes it from the pile. I really believe it’s still possible and necessary to dig around to find the new labels that are worthwhile. It’s just a bit of a sixth sense. I’d hazard a guess that that was always the case though, even in the pre-internet days.

As a label it’s a bit like its Hamburg neighbour Dial I guess. This Steinhoff and Hamouda is probably my favourite Smallville so far. If you like John Daly or the Aesthetic Audio stuff then I think you’re sure to enjoy “You Are”, with its sad washes of hazy melody. I like the Dial sound but sometimes it’s too cold for me. This release raises the heat a little, but not too much! The other two tracks on the EP are great too, especially “Wondering While Wandering”, which sounds like somebody finally made a sequel to “Lohn and Brot” .

2. Hauke Freer-Ate You (Morris Audio City Sport)

At some stage in the last 6 months or so Morris Audio must have had a meeting or something, because they’ve released 5 or 6 things I’ve really liked since then after a long time during which I bought nothing. Hauke Freer is another great person to get on board judging by his track “My Beat” which came out on Real Soon last year. This time around on “Ate You” he’s a little techier but it’s got a twisted deep house feel to it. Again the whole EP is worth checking out here, and it’s also out now.

3. Brothers Vibe-Lost and Found EP (Deepvibes)

I’ll hold my hands up and say I’m not familiar with anything close to the full extent of the Brothers Vibe back catalogue. I do really like the stuff I’ve heard though, and this new one on Sascha Dive’s Deepvibes label really shows what an influence on his sound they must have been. If I knew the names of hardware synths I’d hazard a guess that the one used in this is a famous perennial Chicago one, but I don’t. It’s a great sound though, very Mr Fingers.

4. Substance/Vainqueur-Emerge (Scion Versions):

So I notice that this week practically every Basic Channel release seems to be on Beatport. That’s a great chance to get some stuff that’s as good to listen to as it is to play (if you DJ) or dance to at really nice digital quality. It’s easy to ignore things that come with huge critical weight, I know I do because it can be stifling feeling like there’s nothing to say about something that isn’t just reinforcing its place in the canon. But really it’s probably worth being less stubborn than that (assuming I’m not the only one!)

One release which seemed to precede the deluge of BC stuff a few weeks back was this Scion Versions EP. It consists of two reworkings of old Chain Reaction releases and one original track re-issued.

It’s interesting how much current music sounds like this, albeit with different twists. There’s a sense that this sort of sound pre-dates major divisions between house and techno which has eroded again in the last few years. So you’ll certainly find yourself thinking Marcel Dettmann is a major fan of this sound, but I think even a lot of the house music of the last year or two is quite heavily influenced by it too.

What I really love about this is how serious it sounds, it’s of amusing and great how people have fun and party to all this music and yet sometimes it is so utterly taciturn. It’s sort of ironic, even if on reflection it’s not specific to techno.

5. Kreon-Stalega (Resopal Red)

So this is an especially fine release from Kreon, a Greek producer. If you like the housier end of Luciano and Villalobos’s DJ sets then don’t miss this, a really deft and different EP of jazzy house music. I liked Onur Ozer’s album last year which seemed to try and bring a real jazz feeling to so called “minimal”, and this is a slightly lighter and less abstract take on that sound. I played “Stalega” (streamed below) out on Saturday night and it sounds so great amongst some of the current deeper stuff. Check it out and pick up the EP if you like it. I think most people who like house music will like this, but correct me if I’m wrong!