nicholas – dig deep (no more hits, 2010)

To get some room in the tight and scarce spaces left in the slow motion house biz is an arduous task. To not sound repetitive, formulaic or be a victim of your own success you need to be positively inventive. Mark E or The Revenge had their glorious times and we have championed them repeatedly in all the venues we have spun our wax. We have written about them and spread the word dutifully. We do celebrate good music in all its variants until the genre implodes.

We relatively gave up on the slow house cum edit infested thingy. Luckily, we got a man to save the re-edit boat, to prove that Italians (sometimes) do it better. Nicholas Iammateo, a young and very prolific 25 years old, has been releasing consistent vinyl after vinyl on the No More Hits label among others. His niche is an early vocal house aural aesthetic. Tastefully sampling vocals and pitching down the beat to make it sensual and soulful giving it an overall analogue feel reminiscent of the best classic early house genre. With an apparently distorted arrangement of notes which remind us of  the Motor City Drum Ensemble trademark that works wonders on Nicholas’ productions.

Nicholas is dropped frequently and you always get some avid listener approaching you enquiring about the track. It is Nicholas doing his thing. Totally brand new retro.

Fancy knowing a bit more about the man? Read this article on his production skills. We give you a slice of his creativity and keynote lecture on how to respectfully sample and build a dancefloor monster. Taken from his ‘Free at Last’ 12″, where every track is as good as this ‘Dig Deep’.

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blackjoy – the jekyll ep (public release, 2011)

Public Release, that low key record label quite close to RVNG INTL. reaches its third installment, and as usual without warning. The first one was some Tim Sweeney’s edits; the second by Jacques Renault, was spotted on and a secret weapon of many djs. Both with great disco reworks, especially the latter one. But it is all about Blackjoy now. You would expect some serious disco here. The answer is no. Blackjoy delivers a real scorcher on A side. ‘Secret’ is a fast paced melodic techno with soft touches of acid that easily reminds me of the best moments of Chateau Flight or I:Cube’s epic ‘Cosmic Race’. Only difference being that Blackjoy injects more punch to the beat. It is a perfect secret weapon for a late hours dancefloor.

On B side, we go slow with ‘Games’, as it has been the norm over the last three years thanks to The Revenge or Mark E flooding the market with some excellent re-edits, and many mediocre ones which are better to avoid. However, this not being an edit, it becomes a bit more original. Not as technoid as ‘Secret’, still has some beautiful synths and emotive dubbed guitar riffs that makes it a good ‘balearic’ tune. Somehow, the guitar riffs and the speed of the track bring some memories of Police’s ‘Bed’s Too Big Without You’. Maybe it is just me.

This will surely be, an unsung classic. As with any other Public Release, it is a gorgeous thick 180g picture disc vinyl with impressive artwork. They do fly these ones as they are very limited and they do not get repressed.

I will take you to the link, both for listening, and buying while they last,  just here.

gwen mccrae – keep the fire burning – the revenge edit

Top notch edit by The Revenge. A personal fave and a regular blaster on discerning dancefloors. Listen or download this monster. I am sharing with you a gem hard to find at a hi-fi quality! Released on CD only and in a very limited one sided vinyl. Probably sold out by now.