——– minimal/house/techno ————-
Alessio Mereu – Cafe Las Vegas / Trumpet Student / Waiting for Tibet (CMYK Musik)
Alessio was one of my favorite producers for last years, I played his tracks Bingo 1 and Techno Is Brain with nice respond from crowd, and his new EP is even better. All 3 tracks are deserve to be dropped on turntable, he continue with his remarkable and unique sound, easy and light atmosphere, keeping it balanced between funky, techy, tripy and very danceable. Cafe Las Vegas would be my favourite, and Trumpet and Tibet very good too.
Kristian & Christian – Flashes (AFU Lab)
Darker and highly hypnotizing groove, great for dance-floor, great for making a set more pumping. Vocal is even scary a litte, but for a good contrast with common minimal stuff. Kristian & Christian.
Doide – Otros Tiempos (Moonpool)
They say it reminds early Detroit techno, I’m not sure about that, maybe some of ‘melodic Detroit’. For me its just right between melancholic and uplifting, with deep bass and a pop melody on top. Great melodic tune.
NuFrequency feat. Shara Nelson – Go That Deep (NRK Sound Division)
This song was around for quite a while, probably because new remixes were issued recently, I found previous version better and grabbed it from someone on discogs (great site for finding used ‘out of stock’ vinyls). I like all remixes here, Kemistry’s Shack Music Mix maybe better for funkier dance-floor, Charles Webster Acid Remix is for higher moment of the party, with its a bit harsh dark acid sound, Charles Webster Remix is better suited for after hours with its deep and atmospheric touch. You may know Shara Nelson for her collaborations with Massive Attack (‘Unfinished Sympathy’) and Kasha (remember that hit break-beat track ‘U’?). Check great jazz version of the Go That Deep.
Kaliber – 20.1 (Kaliber)
Not a tipical Kaliber, a Kaliber on hi-leg, soft melodic funky sound. Girls will love it.
——— rock —————-
U2 – No Line On The Horizon (2 X LP) (Universal)
U2 – Get On Your Boots (7″) (Universal)
Nostalgia or not, too much techno or what, but I’m getting back to music which influenced me so much in early 90’s (Achtung Baby), back to rock sound. I agree with Bono saying in an interview, “We came with something special”. Album is full of energy, great melodies, serious and not-so lyrics and driving sound (Brian Eno co-authored and produced many tracks). The Edge came with complicated arrangements, changing guitar parts almost every 16 measure. Big inline booklet with texts and photos. Small surprise, No Line On The Horizon on seven-inch is different version, sounds more live and faster (110 vs. 100 bpm on album). Watch live version of title track No Line on the Horizon and follow my previous post Bravo U2! about the album, with video interview and more live songs.
———- nu jazz / bossa nova ————
Le Gains/Bourg – Ye Ye! (Le Gains & Bourg remix) (Tour Eiffel)
Bootleged remix of Serge Gainsbourg’s Chez Les Yeye, by French producer Minimatic (aka Boogalox), fouder of Tour Eiffel Records. This 7″ was really hard to find, and I’m still looking for another two from Tour Eiffel, Jazz A Gogo/Shake Your T (which is nu-boogaloo Peaches remake, with her famous ‘Shake Your Tits, Suck My D*ck’) and Le Hipe Hope (this time modified Wu-Tang Clan acapella with bossa nova beats)/Made in France. Check this great super uplifting French nu-style bossanova/boogaloo artist.
The Five Corners Quintet – Hot Rod / Shake It / Easy Diggin’ (Ricky-Tick)
Ultra-groovy Jazz from Finland? Yes. No surprise this hot EP was produced by Tuomas Kallio of Nuspirit Helsinki. He managed to combine live jazz band with fast dancy rhythms. You wont believe, but 3 tracks on the EP varies in tempo from 209 to 150 bpm. This jazz is faster than drum’n’bass, but its still sounds as jazz. Great. I yet have to get their 11-tracks album Hot Corner.
Nicola Conte – Jazz Pour Dadine (Schema)
I was always big fan of Nicola‘s Forma 2000 track, and when after years of research I got vinyl, to my big surprise, B-side appeared to be 5/4 tempo syncopated nu’jazz with smooth sax alto improvisations (by Gaetano Partipilo), again, as every here, very groovy and moovy. Could be re-version of famous Just Take Five.
