Flash Atkins – Did You Forget To Shine?

Deep house and nu-boogie collide on this latest from the mighty Paper Recordings.

In its original form, Did You Forget… is a funk-fuelled, slinky nu-boogie gem in the Crazy P mold. For me, the vocal's a little too pop-tastic but never fear, cos there's a Dubstramental on hand which is all about that pulsing synth bassline… if you've got Night Dubbin', Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing or Love & Dancing in your collection this is the mix that's gonna push your buttons. Then again the lo-slung Jamie L Remix is pretty spiffing in a sleazy, lights-down-low kinda way too. The Havana Candy Mix is, again, a bit too bright and shiny for these ears but again fear not, cos rounding out the EP is the Hot Toddy Mix, which mixes up vintage house flavas (deep, Balearic and acid) for an all-round dancefloor gem.

The beards' treat of the week!

Out: This week

About: You can find Paper Recordings on Facebook, on Soundcloud or at their own website.

Havana Candy – The Black Keys EP

Some cool leftfield disco vibes here from those past masters of the artform, Paper Recordings… and for once they've actually said when it's out so I can tell you about it! The EP's made up of three original tracks, plus a remix of Tera from Flash Atkins.

We'll start with Tera, then, which in its original form is a seriously bass-heavy, mind-melting nu-disco throbber made with dark rooms, smoke machines and strobe lights in mind. Far be it from me to say something as crass as “pass the amyl” but, y'know… while in Mr Atkins' hands, it's basically the same track, only with several buckets of acid squelch thrown in. As for the other two, Last Train is wonky downtempo Balearica better suited to warm-up or post-club play, while All Night treads a similar path to Tera, but leans a little more towards the deep house (rather than nu disco) side of things.

Silly faces at the ready, please.

Out: This week

About: Havana Candy is the latest alias for Hebden Bridge-based Joe Lucas, who's had stuff out under various guises on such northern institutions as Fat City and 2020Vision, as well as Paper and his own Havana Candy Records. You can find him (and HEAR THIS) on Soundcloud, or you can find Paper Recordings here.

Flash Atkins – Camper Van EP

After Maya Jane's excursions into slower, dubbier pastures (below) let's stick with the slightly more leftfield house vibes, with this rather lovely four-tracker from Flash Atkins, AKA Paper Recordings main man Ben Davis.

Test One is a reworking of Sweet Exorcist's bleep classic with the tinky-tonk analogue acid sparseness of the original replaced by an altogether more sumptuous and uplifting nu-disco feel. And a trumpet, unless I'm very much mistaken… but it works. In Flash Dub form, which has something of a big-room techno feel to it, it works even better. And it comes accompanied with Cherry Bounce, an altogether funkier, more organic affair with plenty of uplift, which again is accompanied by Flash's own Dub for maximum impact.

Playing the original and this version of Test One side-by-side is quite instructional, actually, I think. It's the perfect demonstration of how far we've come, and proof of what for me is one of house music's greatest strengths – the ability to essentially all sound the same, and yet simultaneously, continue to ceaselessly reinvent itself.

Anyway enough of the cod theorising – this is good.

Out: This week

About: Here's the obligatory Paper Recordings link, then.