Sunday 6 May 2012

So many tunes, so little time 14

It's a bank holiday weekend here in the UK, but still This Is Why We Dance soldiers tirelessly on (well, after a bit of a nap anyway) to bring you a round-up of the best of the rest of the last week's releases…

Betaphonics – Midnight Love
Naked/Om-style soulful, female-vocalled house/lounge/pop vibes here from Johannesburg's Betaphonics, coming on South African label Downsouth Music and with remixes from one of the SA house scene's most renowned players, Mr Matt Prehn. Matt's Light Pass and Dark Pass mixes lose a lot of the fluffy pop stylings and transform the track into something aimed more squarely at the deep house dancefloors.
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Filthy Dukes – Whether With Me EP
The Filthy Dukes may be best known for their Kill 'Em All night and associated skinny-jeaned indie-electro hipster antics, but this four-track EP sees them taking something of a left turn into more straight-up house and techno territory. They're all right at it, as it goes, particularly in the case of the vaguely menacing title cut.
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Frank Valon – Metro
Tech-house that leans to the techno side of the equation here from Lancashire's Discotech Records. Six mixes in total, with the Resumo and Loonic rubs most likely to tempt those coming from a house perspective.
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Fries + Bridges – Pipe Cleaner
As befits label boss Phil Weeks' recent associations with DJ Sneak, there's a decidedly Sneak-y feel to this latest from French label Robsoul Recordings. It's also got the weirdest of high-pitched treated vocals, somewhat reminiscent of Detroit Grand Pubahs' Sandwiches, while the accompanying male vocal delivers the strangest of lyrics (“Don't take her to the mall/she wants to have it all/she needs to get a life/cos she's a pipe cleaner”). A quirky, disco-tinged oddity.
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Good Voodoo Society – Right Here
No shortage of soulful vibes on offer this week. This offering from Good Voodoo Music fuses afro and jazz elements, features a full male vocal promising to always be right here for you, and comes with mixes from Domineeky (AKA GVS main man Dominic Nelson-Ashley) and scene stalwart Andy Ward.
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Junior White + Noelle – Stay
More soulful bizniss, this time from Favouritizm Records. I must admit to having kinda fallen a bit out of love with this sound over the past few years personally, but at the likes of Soul Heaven, L'America and of course Southport Weekender this will go down a treat. It also comes, notably, with a brace of suitably sumptuous remixes from disco legend John Morales.
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Kenny Bobien + Swift Of DJN Project – What A Way (Remasters)
Completing a trio of soulful house releases, here veteran Kenny Bobien's track from last year with DJN Project gets revisited on a new label, Sugar Groove, headed up by DJN Project's Swift. And, despite what I just said, if you're in the mood for some sweet, soulful vocal vibes then this is rather lovely! Carlos Vargas, FTL and Juan Sanchez take care of remix duties.
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Kurtz + Marco Soave – Things You Say EP
Some typically high-quality deep house vibes here from Denver's 5 And Dime Recordings. I'm not totally 100% in love with the vocals on this one, TBH, but there's a satisfying dark, techy squelch to both Miss You and Things You Say, while a Monologue Remix of the former takes us on a tribal ride that's darker still. If you dig the likes of Jamie Jones and Lee Foss then check this one for sure.
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Rayner + Wisqo – Lady Killer
Bouncy techno/tech-house vibes here from Sounds Of Juan and a duo who are no strangers to the label. Remixes come from Adam Clark, Giuseppe Rizzutto and Kinatix, with Rizzutto's mix just pipping it for me I think.
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V To The D – What We See EP
You've gotta love Greta Cottage Workshop, who continue to serve up their distinctive brand of leftfield deep house with jazzy and ambient leanings regardless of, well, anything really. This from V To The D is a typically delicate, esoteric affair, comprising four brilliantly-named tracks: We See Cool Babes Dancing In Water, We See Bonny Babes Strippin' On Acid, We See Delicious Babes Dancing In Space and We See Hot Babes Dancing In Fire. The delicious babes in space get my vote but if the more cerebral side of house music is your thing, then to be fair the whole EP is well worth checking.
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Yariv Bernstein – Tandem EP
Finally for tonight, here come three tracks in a total of five mixes from Israeli techno/tech-house wizard Yariv Bernstein, courtesy of Punch Music. Bardo is dark and drummy, coming with E2-E4-esque rainforest/jungle sounds and a more pounding Jonty Skruff remix. Tandem is also quite dark n' drummy but also a notch groovier, with remixes from Dan Drastic and Nir Shoshani.
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Sorry about all the + signs, by the way. Blogger seems to have lost the ability to handle ampersands… if anyone has any ideas how to get around that I'd be glad to hear them!

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