Australian producer Inkswel is back on the Cosmocities label in France with more of his superbly soulful sounds, this time with none other than Chicago legend Robert Owens. The lush 'Space Love' is a playful deep house jam with the sort of cosmic synths that recall early Fingers Inc and Owens's smoky tones only heighten that feeling. Steve Spacek provides a mix that rides on broken beats with elastic bass but just as much cosmic energy and Fluterumental gets all loose-limbed and seductive. On the flip side are two Yoruba Soul mixes that bring extra rich soul vibes and shimmering pad work. A classy and timeless EP for sure.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: boogiemeister Inkswell returns with a new track - a total curveball from the Aussie producer as he enlists Robert Owens for a modern soul epic that's got a feel of "The Back Stabbers" about it. A real departure from his usually boogie-centric sound but one with real universal appeal. Nice smattering of remixes too. Excellent stuff indeed.

TRACK LISTING

Space Love
Space Love (Steve Spacek Remix)
Space Love (Fluterumental Mix)
Space Love (Yoruba Soul Remix)
Space Love (Yoruba Soul Instrumental Mix)

Cracking album from a fabulous joint venture team. Jaunty hiphop-downbeat-soul gems, perfectly balanced between phat beats, soulful melodies, strong lyrics and noisy overtones.

Inkswel & Colonel Red started out writing together more than decade ago & over the time have developed quite a unique sound when recording together,..a chemistry that blends music melody & lyric into every verse chorus & hook. So when Inkswel approached Colonel Red to create the 'Holders of the Sun' album, Redz response was to move his hectic schedule around & start immediately. Inkswel dropped the beats Colonel Red dropped the vocals & some fine musical tuning & 'Holders Of The Sun' Vol1 was born….while they promise a Vol. 2.

The fantastic artwork comes from Our Machine, Netherlands, who designed a lot of sleeves for Kindred Spirit, Tom Trago, Versatile, Build An Arc and m.o.

Watch out for the video of "Make Me Crazy" and stunning remixes by Moodymann, Potatohead People, Moodorama.

Colonel Red is a groundbreaking soul singer, musician, producer and performer, often referred to as one of the most powerful voices in the UK soul music community, a champion in equal parts of the original Broken Beat scene, as well as the UK soul scene. Working with and writing for the likes of Teddy Pendergrass, Amp Fiddler, Maurice White, Bugz In The Attic, Tony Allen and countless others. His track 'Belive In Me' was awarded the WORLDWIDE award from Gilles Peterson in 2014.
Colonel Red's foray into the music industry began when Epic Record company giant Sylvia Rhone signed the then lead singer, Nikki Romillie, of Pride n' Politix, to Atlantic Records. An accompanying publishing deal with Warner Bros. established the artiste, now known as Colonel Red, as one of the UK's top cutting edge singer/songwriters.

Inkswel has been heralded as one of the busiest and most prolific beat based producers from Australia, a true master of his craft he has worked with the likes of Talib Kweli, Lee Scratch Perry, Andrew Ashong, Dwight Trible, Amp Fiddler and countless others as well as putting out timeless musical projects on labels such as BBE, Sonar Kollekiv, Rush Hour, Warner Music, Boogie Angst and others. He hovers evenly between Hip Hop and Club sensibilities, blending new age approaches with nostalgic leans. 'Holders of The Sun' is the audio melting pot of two musical aliens, future directive soul music drenched in the nostalgia of what once was.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hold On 2 It
2. Make Me Crazy
3. I'll Pray
4. Hell On Earth
5. All Systems
6. Cruel Mistake
7. Neva Enuf
8. Time Ticking
9. Save Ya Self
10. Undeniable

Adelaide producer & DJ Inkswel introduces his new project 'The Snaglepuss' with 'Chasing Infinity,' a concept LP with a star-studded guest list that takes us on a stylistic journey from hiphop and g-funk to up tempo broken beat, boogie and house. With guests including Talib Kweli, Amp Fiddler, Steve Spacek and Kylie Auldist the album describes a cosmic quest for a new galactic home, searching for a better place and stopping on every dancefloor on the way.

Inkswel (aka Jules Habib) has spent much of the last two decades in the Northern Hemisphere DJing every party and club from Rhythm Section in London to Output in New York and released music on BBE, Atjazz, Sonar Kollektiv, Tokyo Dawn and Motor City Wine. He's produced tracks for artists like Pugz

Atoms & Georgia Anne Muldrow and remixed artists including Amp Fiddler and Dez Andrez. On the Snaglepuss material, he's taken a more collaborative approach and much of this record was co-created with bassist Stephen Lane, Sloth on horns, UK broken beat royalty Kaidi Tatham and Inkswel's wife and musical partner Erin Buku. Inkswel and the team's genre bending productions draw influence from P Funk, 80s Pop, Boogie Funk, Classic 90s Hip hop and Contemporary Soul stitching it all together into a seamless multicoloured package.

The album kicks off with a nod to Inkswel's musical roots, golden era hiphop. 'Let It Grow' features the legendary Talib Kweli, supported by Erin Buku and Baba Israel. Next up, staying in the hiphop lane, is 'Everything' feat. Dudley Perkins, followed by the spacey stylings of 'Mystical Magic' featuring Lee "Scratch" Perry and Elf Tranzporter and 'Butterflies' featuring Steve Spacek. From there the album turns up the tempo and the heat with the bouncy rollerdisco jam 'New Day' featuring Melbourne legends Kylie Auldist and N'fa Jones and the title track which features UK Soul luminary Oliver Night on vocals. Amp Fiddler jumps on organ and vocal duties on 'How I Feel' and Kaidi Tatham steps up on keys for 'Cosmic Love Affair' featuring the princely vibe of Erik Rico and contributes again to the instrumental cut 'Intergalactic Bboy Anthem'. The album is rounded out by remixes from UK legend Mr Scruff, Detroit don DJ Dez Andrez and Adelaide's Funkwig.

TRACK LISTING

1. Let It Grow (feat. Talib Kweli, Erin Buku & Baba Israel)
2. Everything (feat. Dudley Perkins)
3. Mystical Magic (feat. Lee Scratch Perry)
4. Butterflies (feat. Steve Spacek)
5. New Day (feat. Kylie Auldist)
6. Chasing Infinity (feat. Oliver Night)
7. How I Feel (feat. Amp Fiddler)
8. Cosmic Love Affair (feat. Erik Rico)
9. Intergalactic B-Boy Anthem (feat. Kaidi Tatham)

The Playground offers up its 9th release to date with honorary Ozzy (now via Berlin, Amsterdam AND London - phew) - Inkswel. This self-confessed drum machine obsessive (and former B-Boy) takes on the task of laying down 4 future-boogie jams on this up and coming label, aided and abetted by Henri Le Blanc, Sven Atterton & Man Made Mountain. "Visions Of Life" features Sven Atterton and is a lively number; soft keys and weaving B-line complimenting a whole manner of vintage drum boxes while glistening chords twinkle through the mix. "Patchouli & Nag Champa" slows things down for some proper smoochy, leftfield boogie. Squelchy synths, mystic leads and flurries of synth-sax are the main motifs of this intriguing soul nugget; full of radiance and intrigue until the very last beat. "All The Way Live" features Henri Le Blanc and veers off towards a slightly more housey direction. A huge, low-slung bass rolling around the low frequencies as clipped drums and warped melodies fight for dominance in other areas of the mix. Inkswel adds the icing on the cake in the form of a spoken word section of cultural observation - noting that most people in the current scene don't want to have random sex with strangers, instead a more conservative, let's get to know each other first system seems to prevail (!!!). Finally, "Pot Liquor Revisited" relives Inkswel's B-boy days as him and rapper Man Made Mountain collaborate on some proper street ready hip-hop. Well programmed beats, a really strong vocal and jazzy, crate dug instrumentation put this up there with Q-Tip and Dilated Peoples - an authentic slice of retroist rap music executed with aplomb! Wonderful stuff here from Inkswell - most recommended. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Visions Of The Life
A2. Patchouli & Nag Champa
B1. All The Way Live Feat. Henri Le Blanc
B2. Pot Liquor Revisited Feat. Man Made Mountain