Running Back, no.1 stable for new house music vibrations, enlist Subtle Houzze for their first foray on the label.

Veering into the techier realms of the house music spectrum, the four tracks here are littered with Detroitian tropes, jagged drum machines and space-age synthesis. "Hemisphere" kicks us off and could well be something out of Derrick May's back catalogue with its Motor City drums, intergalactic pads and Mayday-esque, pitch bent M1 lines. The Blade mix neither relents on energy or spirit either - engage lasers with this one massiv!

"Magic Phantasy"'s seductive female vox, soaked in reverb and presented alongside sweet leads and caressing pad presets present one of those MDMA-drenched peaktime moments that few producers execute with such spine-tingling panache as demonstrated here. When that synth-clav line explodes expect unified rushes across the dancefloor.

Finally, in the same week that Rhythim Is Rhythim's classic blueprint, "Innovator" drops, "The Traveller" concludes, a heart-on-sleeve tribute to the legendary Detroit LP that in many ways must have influenced this entire record's concept.

A must for fans of that OG Detroit sound! Recommended.

BubbleTease Communications and Running Back team up once again for Mim Suleiman’s fifth studio album on vinyl and compact disc. Produced by Baltimore-via-Sheffield house music monolith - Maurice Fulton - we find the Zanzibar-born-UK-based vocalist and percussionist dancing and prancing to the 14 songs featured here with a vibrancy and presence that should transcend tradition genre boundaries and the demographics associated with each. You're gonna find indie kids shacking their shit in the dance whilst ravers contemplate the deep multi-cultural message contained within.

The tropes of house and disco are mixed here with wonderful rhythmic adventures, infectious futuristic pop and ultramodern African music, while the mesmerizing and addictive lyrics are sung in Swahili and deal with love and affection, freedom, oppression, unity and everyday life. Enchanting, entrancing and entertaining all the way. And of course, highly recommended by us here at Picc HQ. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Nice, colourful and vibrant album with maximum crossover potential. Maurice Fulton producing Mim Suleiman is a match made in Swahili-indie-dance leftfield heaven! Batshit in parts, adventurous throughout and highly, highly listenable - another masterpiece to add to Fulton's bulging catalogue.

STAFF COMMENTS

Sil says: No, they are not fading out. These two Italians still do it finely . A compendium of slow chuggers, balearic house bliss and at time dancefloor friendly hits. Cut and paste in a more refined manner. Still rocking!

Third album by Frankfurt's Phillip Lauer - one half of Tuff City Kids (with Gerd) and one of Germany's prime exports regarding all things melodic and dance related. "Power" is a topical take on classic dance and 80ies pop figures, disco music in a closet (Lauer is still in denial), singing arpeggios, android choirs, beautiful bass lines and sometimes the apparitional architecture of house music.

Neatly placed on one piece of vinyl, “Power” collects nine songs that follow these roads. Expertly produced, recorded on high-end tape and complemented with intricate songwriting, many are regarding this as Lauer's magnum opus.

“Power” is vintage Lauer. Like his attic - Pyramide Studio 2 for those who know - where a vast synthesizer collection from the days of yore and tomorrow meets other digital dinosaurs and analog axes, it showcases a sanguine, punky and vivid DIY-aesthetic that isn't too far from a garage band turned into a one-man-orchestra. Glazed with two songs featuring the vocal talents of Jasnau ("Mirrors" and the eponymous "Power"), that sentiment is consolidated through a complete and dizzying LP which takes the listener over rainbow roads and electronic super highways. 

Running Back long standing legacy on modern dance music continues with an absolute dozzy of an EP by Helium Robots. If you like that twangy, hi-gloss, slightly exotic blend of house music oft permeated by artists on the label (think Telephones, Tensnake and Marco Passarani to name three), then this my friends is for you!

Four tracks that instantly transport you into a carefree 72 hour weekend. The kids are at home, you've got money to spend and friends / lovers by your side. All that's left is to find your spot on the dancefloor (front left, obvs...), get loaded and dance the night away. Holiday house never sounded so good!

Recommended. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Bedazzling EP from this go-to and long running label. There's not many duff ones in their vast catalogue and this new one certainly hits the 'Yes' pile.

History revealing compilation project centering around the legendary Front Club in Hamburg Germany that existed from the 80´s - late 90´s - a leading club in terms of music selection, mixing technique, rave culture - in a very important period of time.

Eponymous resident DJ´s Klaus Stockhausen and Boris Dlugosch take a close look back at that time, guide you through the history, the early beginnings and absolute key moments of house music club culture in Germany.

37 legendary tracks make up the CD release - many of which have not been on sale forever and a day while the vinyl, set across two volumes, selected 16 of the hardest hitting numbers for an unmixed selection for the DJs and collectors alike.

Hamburg’s Front club was already the stuff of legend, and the story is important now, 21 years later as not many peoiple know how house music infiltrated Germany to give techno some competition on the dancefloor. With Front you wouldn't have Robert Johnson or, to some extent, Parorama - house and disco simply were not celebrated in large numbers until Front, Stockhausen and Dlugosch opens minds and record boxes to the soulful sound. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

2xLP 1 Info: LP Part One.

2xLP 2 Info: LP Part Two.

Written and produced by Maurice Fulton. 'An Original Dr. Scratch Mix'. Published by Buttrubb Music.

Maurice Fulton re-instates his much lauded Syclops project for album number three. Joined by Hanna Sarkari on guitars, who was part of the original lineup, and with Zanzibar cum Sheffield songstress Mim Suleiman on drums and Karo Brandi doing... some other stuff? Maurice has always kept us been aloof with exact details of his (makebelive?) band.

Anyway, as we've come to expect - a mix of Fulton's idiosyncratic, sativa-blend hyper-electronix, big bolshie drum breaks and a heady, cerebrum tickling musical style that covers new jazz, space funk and synth wig-outs in equal measure. There's no-one in the world that sounds like this 'band' and it's great to hear them sounding as assured and as creative as ever on their third outing!

If anything Maurice has ramped up the intensity, with shuddering, monolithic drum crashes opening the record. "The Skipper" soon introduces us to a shimmering, dancefloor friendly cut with gurgling bass and suspended arps. Jason finds his K but Sarah loses her E, resulting in a pitch black, technoid thud that'll disorientate even the most ardent dancer. Elsewhere, there's moments of skeletal drum machine techno ("Kelly Is With Her"), bouncy house discord ("Five Left") and mind melting, cranium busting future jazz rampages such as "Karo B Is Not On Love & Hip Hop" and the eponymous album closer "Pink Eye", that'll leave you nothing short of breathless after its six minute onslaught of intensity.

It's like Maurice and the Syclops have channeled all the aggression and energy of a thousand dinosaurs and let it loose across the myriad studio outboard resulting in a very busy, adventurous and dynamic album - easily set to be regarded as the best out of the three from this project. Why's it named after conjunctivitis though...?!?!?

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Stone cold L E G Maurice returns with the Sycops in toe for perhaps their loudest, most crazed expedition to date. Your head'll be left in a spin by the end of the LP.

After the well deserved critical success of Tornado Wallace's 'Lonely Planet' (No.5 in the only chart that matters...) Running Back enlist a crack team of remix heroes to transform the Talk Talk-inspired Balearic pop of "Today" and the new age thrust of "Trance Encounters" into the floor filling club cuts the DJs have been dying for. First among equals is Versatile boss I:Cube, who calls on decades of dance floor experience to twist "Today" into a esoteric, Asiatic, Balearic house groover awash with precision percussion and a rolling boogie bassline. So far so fantastic, but then the Frenchman blows us away with his beats mix, a rambunctious rhythm track topped with fx soaked vocal idents and mixed to within an inch of its life. Say YES! Elsewhere, semi-professional sommelier and deep house deity Move D delivers his own version of "Today", treating the light and airy elements of the OG to a burrowing bassline and pulsating 4/4, before Prins Thomas offers an interdimensional acid disco overhaul of "Trance Encounters", reminding everyone exactly why he's the Prins.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: I'm having this! The best bits of our No.5 LP of 2017 get pulled apart and re-rendered by I:Cube, Prins Thomas and Move D. Expect deep house drama, Balearic bounce, lysergic space disco and powerhouse percussion across these four mixes...

FORMAT INFORMATION

12" Info: One copy found

Running Back's Mastermix series is a timely reminder of what has made Running Back endure and remain at the top of many house music fans' favourite label lists for over a decade. Gerd Janson's widely adored imprint has invited one of house music's original & greatest proponents of the Mastermix, NYC's Tony Humphries, to curate and mix the CD edition of the compilation, accompanied by an unmixed double-LP which features a handful of the compilations rare & exclusive cuts. Beginning with Todd Terje's blockbuster "Ragysh" and traversing tracks from across the label's history, it includes contributions from long time label regulars alongside more recent additions and reminders of some of RB's best reissues. Label mainstays Tiger & Woods, Matthew Styles, Redshape and Leon Vynehall all appear, alongside Mr G, Paul Woolford and recent breakthrough artists Shan, Jex and Roy Camanchero. Tiger & Woods's "Don't Hesitate" appears on vinyl for the first time, while the Dixon edit of Precious System's anthem "The Voice From Planet Love" will be available on wax again after only appearing on a super limited 12" run the first time around. The choice of Tony Humphries to mix the compilation is a significant one. Having received his break in the early 80s as an understudy for the legendary Shep Pettibone's Kiss FM show, Humphries went on to become one of the defining DJs of house music's formative years with his residency at New Jersey's Club Zanzibar and London's Ministry of Sound. His previous mixes illustrate his continuing ability to bridge dance music's past & present, with prior contributions to Resident Advisor and Fabric's respective series in addition to label compilations for King Street Sounds and West End Records.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: New Jersey don, Zanzibar luminary and Kiss FM's most celebrated dance jock, Tony Humphries takes time to explore the vast Running Back catalogue and delivers a highly enjoyable master-mix that perfectly encapsulates both the impressive depth of the label alongside Tony's unique and coveted DJ style.

The eye of the storm: welcome to Tornado Wallace's debut album! How about some references? New Age sounds meet new wave melodies, Grace Jones runs into the Dire Straits at Compass Point, while a Korg Mini Pops and a Roland CR78 make amends for Sly & Robbie's absence, Michael Mann pictures Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness', Robert Rauschenberg tries his luck at naturalism and an imagined Wally Badarou echoes through all of it. The accumulation of about four years of work, with tracks written in Berlin and Melbourne, "Lonely Planet" is nothing like you may have expected from the Australian expat. Merging functionality with a musical playfulness on releases for ESP Institute, Beats in Space and Music From Memory's sister Label Second Circle, Tornado Wallace's found himself as one of the producers behind José Padilla's International Feel album. Here, he leaves the needs of the dance floor behind in order to create a magical mystery tour de trance into his and our inner jungle. Sandwiched between the title track and the yearning beauty of the album's final point "Healing Feeling", you get all of that as well as collaborations with and contributions of NO ZU, David Hischfelder and the voice of Sui Zhen on "Today", who would easily make Anna Domino take her proverbial hat off.
Tornado Wallace created an album that supersedes the requirements and expectations of a debut. Like a lost Island Records or a never released Made to Measure album, "Lonely Planet" soundtracks notions and ideas that recall the nostalgic future in the past as much as it looks ahead.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Comprising of seven expansive compositions, ‘Lonely Planet’ transports the listener to a dreamlike landscape alive with excellent birds, dense foliage and breathtaking vistas. As he glides effortlessly between future primitive visions and otherworldly ambient suites, Wallace marries lush FM synthesis with Knopfleric guitar and organic percussion, grounding us in reality while our eyes dart over the intangible. And there, nestled in the midst of all this utopian beauty is ‘Today’, the greatest 80s pop record that never was. Boasting a blithely shrugged vocal from No Zu’s Sui Zhen, the track sounds like a springtime meeting between Talk Talk and Gina X at a far flung resort. Yet despite its abundance of detached cool, this cinematic gem lends the LP a human touch, allowing the listener to find their place in the natural rhapsody. Clear your schedule, close your eyes and take the trip of a lifetime.