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RUSH HOUR

First ever vinyl pressing of Haruomi Hosono's full album "N.D.E." Featuring Goh Hotoda, Yasuhiko Terada, Yasuaki Shimizu, Bill Laswell & François Kevorkian. Big TIP!

Ever since his days as a pioneer of Japanese electronic music in the 1970s, Haruomi Hosono has constantly pushed forwards musically. The 1990s was a particularly fertile decade for the Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder. Following two decades spent creating and releasing innovative electronic pop, imaginary sound worlds and inspirational ambient music, Hosono established the Daisyworld label to showcase cutting-edge ambient, techno and electronica, while also embarking on a wide range of often overlooked collaborative projects.

"N.D.E.", one of the headiest, psychedelic, evocative and gently mind-altering albums in Hosono’s vast discography, is one such project. It formed part of a run of albums that saw the Japanese producer embrace contemporaneous influences – think Spacetime Continuum style ambient techno, DJ Spooky-esque illbient, weighty ambient dub and the ambient house antics of The Orb - in his own inimitable, far-sighted style.

He was ably assisted on "N.D.E." by an undeniably impressive roll call of collaborators, most notably no-wave hero turned ambient explorer Bill Laswell (who Hosono subsequently worked with on joint album "Interpieces Organisation"), NYC DJ / producer Francois Kevorkian, and fellow Japanese ambient pioneer Yasuaki Shimizu.

With such a stellar cast-list, it’s perhaps unsurprising that "N.D.E." has achieved cult status over the years, despite being near impossible to find outside of Hosono’s native Japan. Remarkably, it never received a full vinyl release, with only five of the set’s cuts appearing on an ultra-limited sampler. Rush Hour have delivered a DJ-friendly, remastered version that spreads that album’s seven tracks across two slabs of vinyl.

"N.D.E." remains an impressive, unearthly and otherworldly album. Its unique and distinctive sound makes use of multiple nods to Eastern musical culture - think Tabla rhythms, heady violin courtesy of guest musician Arun Bagal, and transcendental synth sounds - but also throbbing techno grooves, Pete Namlook style ambient electronics, spaced-out dub rhythms, bubbly melodies reminiscent of Warp Records Artificial Intelligence-era IDM output, trippy tribal drums, and immersive electronic dreamscapes that recall the greatest exponents of Japanese new age ambient music.

Highlights are plentiful, from the Test Department-at-dawn brilliance of Bill Laswell co-production "Edge of the End" and the sunrise-ready, dew-fresh dreaminess of "Aero", to the surging ambient techno hedonism of "Strange Attractor" - a near cult cut that remains a timeless slab of hallucinatory dancefloor excellence - and the slow-motion space-dub of Francois Kevorkian collaboration "Teaching of Sphinx", whose oddly processed sounds and low-slung bass subtly reference the Orb’s earlier remix of YMO’s "Tong Poo".

There’s also the impeccable, pleasingly experimental "Spinning Spirits" - all addictive Indian rhythms, punishingly distorted bass, raw electronics and paranoid aural textures - and the sparkling bliss of "Heliotherapy", a woozy chunk of sun-bright electronic hypnotism that encapsulates everything good about Hosono’s mid-90s productions.

TRACK LISTING

Spinning Spirits
Navigations
Teaching Of Sphinx
Strange Attractor
Heliotherapy
Higher Flyer
Edge Of The End
Aero

Amsterdam and Naples based bassist Daniel Monaco (bass player for Nu Genea, Mystic Jungle & Capinera) joins the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint. A strong, disco-heavy two tracker featuring vocals from Mame N'Diack Seck Thiam and a wink to Cerrone, including instrumental versions. Released in conjunction with Utopia records London.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Boasting credentials with Mystic Jungle and Nu Genea, Daniel Monaco is becoming somewhat of a modern disco superstar. His solo work is always super interesting too, as this new 12" for Rush Hour proves. Get in on one of the hottest talents in the modern scene. Tip!

TRACK LISTING

Life Lesson Feat. Mame N'Diack Seck Thiam (Vocal Mix)
Life Lesson (Instrumental Mix)
Medicine Feat. Mame N'Diack Seck Thiam (Vocal Mix)
Medicine (Instrumental Mix)

Gigi Testa is a bona fide Neapolitan hero whose work draws inspiration from local music of the last four decades - think Pino Daniele, Tullio de Piscopo, Tony Esposito, James Senese & Napoli Centrale, Nu Guinea, Mystic Jungle Tribe and rising stars such Fabrizio Fattore, Daniel Monaco and Raffaele Attansio - but also deep house and owes a lot to African music in all its forms.
He’s back with a brand new EP collating all these wild influences into one cohesive, tropical flavoured package. Three tracks of feathers n facepaint, rainforest-tinged house music that’s perfect for getting frisky under the moonlight.

Credits:
Written Arranged & Programmed : Gigi Testa
Mixed & Engineered : Gigi Testa & Paolo Convertito
Synths, Keyboards, Drum Machines, Effects, Live & Electronic Drums : Gigi Testa
Fender Bass,Live Guitars & Additional Keyboards : Paolo Convertito


STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Tropical house master Gigi Testa returns to Rush Hour with more of his conga-heavy jive. House music and congas are inseparable; but when you add his other trademark elements - marimbas, warm pads, delicate bells etc - it's clear Gigi Testa has a vision and a palette to back it up. A inimitable yet highly mellifluous producer who's track's just emanate positivity.

TRACK LISTING

Jinja
Malinke
Echoes In The Sky

Rush Hour bring us this official re-release of this 'lost' 6-track mini album by New Yorker Ben Cenac (of Newcleus fame). Originally recorded and released in 1990, it's an absolute gem of a record - very much in the vein of Larry Heard's best recordings. Now available again for the first time in 22 years, with remastered sound and full artwork.

'A truly, dreamy, beautiful classic deep-house mini-album from the golden-post-Larry Heard era. New-yorker Ben Cenac, who was also member of electro pioneers Newcleus (and part of Sha-lor, who had a cool jazzy garage-house hit in the late 80s), shows a great sensibility and delicacy here in following mr Heard's path. His approach is perhaps slightly more sci-fi in the synths and pad sounds, and perhaps a tad less crafted and mercurial in production than the master (IE; less timeless), but this adds in realness and charm.

So, past the classic deep-garage dream "My Love Turns To Liquid" (in the vein of these sultry garage productions from Peter and Vanessa Daou), the rest of the record shows constant quality, with song titles that could have been (or actually have been) used by Mr. Heard himself, and a content oscillating between warming deep-house, sweet acid, lush garage and relaxed space-jazz piano parts, the whole thing also evoking the Beloved's better 'rave' moments ("The Sun Rising" etc).


TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. My Love Turns To Liquid (5:25)
2. Breathe Deep (5:36)
3. Mystery Of Love (5:20)
Side 2
1. How Do I Love Thee (7:44)
2. Liquid (4:46)
3. Dream To Science (4:42)

Tom Trago returns to Rush Hour after 10 years with a wonderfully accomplished mini-album. During the years he spent living in Amsterdam, when his DJ career seemed to become an unstoppable juggernaut, Tom Trago was a regular visitor to Deco Sauna, a local institution that helped him decompress and de-toxify his body. Eventually, a more extended period of decompression was needed, with Trago moving to the coast to reassess his priorities and spend more time with his young family.

‘Deco’, his sixth album and first for Rush Hour in a decade, was recorded following an extended absence from club dancefloors, as Trago cut back on DJ commitments to prioritize family life. When he returned to the studio, often with his daughter by his side, Trago initially struggled to get back into the groove. The desire to make dancefloor-focused music had – temporarily, at least – deserted him; instead, he found himself drawn towards a desire to create electronic lullabies and music that reflected his more pastoral environment (his home backs on to a patch of woodland in which he would walk every day).

Returning to his most familiar synthesisers – and specifically the first synthesiser he bought, on credit, as a young DJ and wannabe producer – Trago set about navigating different musical routes without the straight-jacket of club-focused dancefloors. Occasionally, old friends from Amsterdam would join him in the studio – Tracey and Maxi Mill, both of whom are part of his Voyage Direct label roster, contributed to tracks on the album – but for the most part the production process was a solo endeavour: musical therapy for an artist determined to do things differently after years spent making club hits and sweat-soaked peak-time workouts.

The results are rarely less than spellbinding. Trago sets his stall out with opener ‘Dark Oak’, a gorgeous, colourful, sun-bright scene-setter co-produced by Tracey that layers tumbling lead lines, chiming melodic motifs and kaleidoscopic chords atop the gentlest of bubbly beat patterns. Maxi Mill lends a hand on ‘Central Park’, a deep and hypnotic excursion marked out by rhythmic bleeps, minimalistic beats and layered melodies, and the summer sun-down rush of ‘Never Peace a Puzzle’, where kaleidoscopic synth sounds, meandering solos and looped electronic stabs rush towards a dancefloor of the mind.

Trago’s desire to create electronic lullabies for his young daughter comes to the fore on ‘To Be Left Unlocked’, a hypnotising fusion of spacey electronic motifs, Steve Reich style (synth) marimba melodies and slowly building musical intensity, while the echoing Fender Rhodes riffs, squelchy synth-bass, glistening guitar notes and sparse, snappy post hip-hop beats of ‘When The Sky Is Watching Us’ doff a cap to the producer’s roots as a bedroom beat-maker.

Given the project’s genesis, it’s perhaps fitting that Trago chose to conclude proceedings with ‘It Might Be Forever’, the album’s most rejuvenating, immersive, and vibrant moments. Both feature sustained chords painted with vivid aural brush strokes and come blessed with the merest hint of a rhythmic pulse - a thread that subtly runs throughout Trago’s most mature and musically rich album to date.


STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: The Rush Hour stalwart takes time off from the club to get introspective and intimate with his synths. The results are deliciously serene and complex, with the producer's expert approach landing somewhere in an enchanted forest full of neon flora and giant mycelium entities. An epic home listen that'll reward exponentially through solo listening.

TRACK LISTING

A Dark Oak
Central Park
Never Peace A Puzzle
To Be Left Unlocked
When The Sky Is Watching Us
It Might Be Forever

Soichi Terada

Asakusa Light Remixes - Inc. Alex Attias & Byron The Aquarius

Heavy hitting remixes by Alex Attias and Byron The Aquarius of tracks from Soichi's "Asakusa Light" LP. "Bamboo Fighter"'s skeletal arrangement is given extra volume thru use of Bryon's voluptuous pads and synth melodies. That incessant jacking beat and wooden bass bringing us back to the classic feels of vintage Chicago house.

Meanwhile, Alex Attias tackles "Takusambient" with a full fat rub down. Accentuating the bass, bringing out focus onto the percussion and layering up delicious layers of electronic goodness into a free flowing sonic river. Highly kinetic, mid-session action that jerks and pulls in all the right directions.

A real heavy two tracker whether you're a Terada fan or not... check! 


STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Absolutely killer remixes of two moments of brilliance off "Asakusa Light". Very different beasts, both are gonna dazzle and dominate the dance.

TRACK LISTING

Bamboo Fighter (Byron The Aquarius Remix)
Takusambient (Alex Attias Remix)

Rush Hour-affiliate and Amsterdam local Relmer is back with what may well be his best work so far. ‘H2O’ expertly displays the vibrant energy he’s known for with two Amazon-inspired deep house groovers; a melancholic walk through the jungle; a Detroit-infused progressive anthem and a hypnotic midtempo floorwarmer. Absolutely stellar stuff from A to Z.

Produced to an exquisite standard, with maximum clarity, weight and dyanamic, "Bummer Paradise" opens and forces you to absolutely lose yourself to in the club. Heads-down, fist-pumping, sweat poring from every orifice. "Strange Movement" is a more delicate, enchanted offering, with rippling synth work, ethereal pads and crisp, midtempo disco beat.

"Naked Chimp" deploys a tribal chant and broken beat rhythm section, whirring sirens and extreme sound design to a deadly effect before "H2O" sweeps in on galactic chords, phazed hats and twinkling melodies from the outer cosmos. Space age techno funk that'd make B12 or John Shima sit up and take note. Amazing stuff here. the course of a few days. Sweet and savory both, the new material strikes a perfect balance between emotive sensibility and dancefloor appeal.


STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Check that "Bummer Paradise" track! Proper driving, late night tech vibe. Similar to Manchester's D. Ball. Feelin' it. Rest of the EP ain't half bad either.

TRACK LISTING

Bummer Paradise
Strange Movement
Naked Chimp
H20
Natural Disruption

The legendary N.A.D. follows up the aptly titled "Electro EP" with the punishing "A Day in May", a scorching hot four track technofunk monster that marries the Detroit and Kalamazoo techno traditions with classic UK techno. Absolutely exceptional high-octane material destined to set any dancefloor on fire. Do not sleep!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Fuckin' love that twangy electroid goodness that NAD exude. Much like B12, John Shima, Nu Groove and much of the Network roster - their synthesis skills and ability to create highly kinetic electronic grooves is second to none.

TRACK LISTING

A Day In May (Instrumental)
What Race The Cyborg
Assemblages
Singer Of Siren Songs

Mother Tongue

Message Is Love

First time (commercially available) 12" pressing of this seminal UK house production. Originally released in 1989. For fans of Dream 2 Science / Sha-Lor, Virgo etc... TIP!

'The United Kingdom has long been an ardent supporter and consumer of African-American music. Dating back to the electrifying earliest performances of blues artists like Big Bill Broonzy during the early 1950s – an influence on Eric Clapton and John Lennon – right through to the dawn of Chicago house and onwards. In fan clubs, like the Tamla Motown Appreciation Society, started by soul writer Dave Godin, to the numerous fan magazines that have documented dance music culture from Blues & Soul to Mixmag, there has been an extended obsession with black music culture.

This lineage continued into the house era, our generation’s defining dance genre, and one with which British producers were swift to adopt. This record is a prime example of this. Although Mother Tongue was a one-off project, its history is rooted in this long-standing culture stretching back decades. The main man behind Mother Tongue was a drummer and record producer named Richie Stevens. Stevens was steeped in music and the industry, thanks to his father, John Stevens, also a professional drummer. Stevens senior played in numerous jazz ensembles during the 1960s and onwards, including performing with Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and was a session player with John Martyn (among numerous others) during Martyn’s finest period (it’s John’s drumming you can hear on ‘Big Muff’).

His son, Richie, was playing professionally while still a teenager for the Dennis Bovell Dub Band and has subsequently backed everyone from Tina Turner and Simply Red to Hugh Masekela and George Clinton. He is also a long-term collaborator with Boy George. But the story of Mother Tongue begins with a band called Well Red. This group, effectively a studio creation by Richie and his then manager Martin Poole, recruited vocalist Lorenzo Hall, a fixture on the London reggae scene and sold the concept to Virgin Records. Well Red yielded two albums – Motion and Respect Due – but never really got the crossover success their songs perhaps deserved. “Virgin were very supportive of us,” recalls Poole, today. “They gave us a lot of money. They pumped money into it, and it never quite paid off, but we did okay. We recouped and got to make a second album with George Clinton. It was a good move, recording with him. It did us a lot of good here and in America. We did pretty well in the US. We were very well-supported over there.”

This same team, working in a tiny studio near Richie’s house in Wood Green, north London, called The Watershed, produced ‘Message Is Love’. It features the vocals of Syn-Dee (Sindy Finn) and Lovebase (Louise Porter), who co-wrote the track with Richie and Alan Lane, another Stevens collaborator, and Ian ‘Spy’ Austin, who’d previously played in the same reggae band, The Instigators, as Lorenzo Hall from Well Red. “Remember it well,” says Martin Poole. “We were just writing it there and then in the studio. It was me, Richie, Spy, and I think Syn-Dee was there as well. When I got home later, Richie played it to me over the phone and I said, ‘That just sounds brilliant,’ from how we'd started it off, you know?” Thanks to their experience in the studio with Well Red, they managed to produce a song that has the timeless feel of all good music.

Mother Tongue was the opening track on a compilation called On The Loose Volume 1 on their own Furious Fish Records. Every track on the album, despite having different artist credits, was done by Stevens and Poole, often using a rotating cast of characters that had also appeared on ‘Message Of Love’. Although it did not sell especially well at the time, it’s become a collector’s item over the years. This is the first time Mother Tongue has appeared as a 12-inch single, a long overdue (but very welcome) happening.'

(Notes by Bill Brewster)

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Well mined deep house greatness; Rush Hour excavating "Message Is Love" from the gold seams of UK dance music. Obviously indebted to Chicago, it's an early and brilliant example cross-pollination and adoption from our fertile soils.

TRACK LISTING

Message Is Love
Message Is Love (Edit)

Soichi Terada & Masalo

Diving Into Minds / Double Spire

Soichi Terada & Masalo team up to produce club mixes of tracks from Soichi's highly acclaimed "Asakusa Light" album.

"Diving Into Minds" is given even more umph, pushed forward with multiple layers of rhythms, be it articulately programmed congas or aggressive 909 snares. "Double Spire" is equally ramped up, it's Italo-influenced origins given extra sparkle whilst the arrangement heads straight for the mainroom with active lasers and strobe lights primed for use across this big rig smasher! Really tasty tweaks that'r more than essential for your casual Terado fanboy and likely to do serious damage in the club too. Do not sleep! 


TRACK LISTING

Diving Into Minds (Club Mix)
Double Spire (Club Mix)

Torn Hawk

Men With No Memory

    Torn Hawk re-emerges on this ace limited edition double 7" edition. Intimate, darkwave bedroom ballads, plate-reverbed electronic punk and high degrees of rhythmic noise characterize this inimitable New Yorker, making him somewhat of a favourite here at Piccadilly. Across five tracks we get a further glimpse into what makes this freak tick, as he gracefully constructs a collage of abrasive and visceral textures underpinned with a dark, psilocybin-tainted sludge that makes you feel like you're in that scene out of Fear And Loathing when the carpet's melting and Hunter's struggling to keep a grip. Torn Hawk ably demonstrates the fractal and sonic fluctuations that occur during a peak psychedelic experience like few can, but rather than revel in the flowery, faux-hippy nature of the trip, he takes it to the darkest and most tumultuous parts of the journey; what a legend! Comes with fold out, full colour insert. TIP! 

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Men With No Memory
    2. Poser
    3. With Butterfly Knives
    4. Stealing Geodes From The Nature Company
    5. Not Quite Music


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