It’s Robert Hood’s World and We’re Just Living In It
So this is how it went: Robert Hood returned to Movement in May, dropped the remixes of the best track on the debut Floorplan album, Paradise, the week of, and then backslapped the masses...
Jenifa Mayanja and Dakini9: Heading Into Tomorrow/Polarity Shift (Sound Warrior)
Hakim Murphy turned me on to a ton of great records in the year he was writing for 5 Magazine. His review of Jenifa Mayanja's full length Walking In The Shadows LP was such...
Now and Then: Ten Years of Hudd Traxx
Hudd Traxx turns ten in 2015, and part one of their landmark anniversary compilation packs one hell of a wallop.
It's easy, as we all know, to release records like you're making a festival flyer:...
Harry Wolfman & Laurence Guy: The Lone Grazer EP
Having just heard the sad news that the brilliant Lost My Dog Records are to close their doors in 2015, I must confess that writing this review feels bittersweet to say the least. Young...
Afrikan Sciences: Means and Ways EP
Seriously, I almost flipped my wig when I first heard the tunes on this 12" from Oakland's Eric Douglas aka Afrikan Sciences. This is soundscaping at work as unique waveforms are presented with three...
Boo Williams: Looney Chunes Vol 1 / Back To The Future
Color me amazed. New label Contemporary Scarecrow has planted a foot firmly in the scene by dragging several classic Boo Williams compositions out of the cobwebs and blending them with four brand new cuts....
Specter: The Gooch (Sound Signature)
This is like reading the back of a pack of Chinese firecrackers: light quickly and run away. Drop the needle anywhere, at any point on any of the three tracks of Specter's new EP...
Lee Mills – Hands Together (Fresh Meat Records)
I can mark time by Fresh Meat's records. I've written more about this label than any other, and the last five or six years has seen the beginning and end of relationships, friendships, personal...
Gunnar Haslam: Scale No Flam
Scorching serving of acid from The Bunker, Mike Servito, Justin Cudmore and Gunnar Haslam.
NY’s Finest: I Can’t Wait Till Tonight (Traxx Underground)
Yikes, I had no idea this was Victor Simonelli when I first heard it - actually, not an inkling until getting ready to write this up. NY's Finest is one of Simonelli's many aliases...
Gene Farris Is On 100
Gene Farris is one of the Chicago mainstays that proves that hard work and the inability to stay still will reward you to no end. His Farris Wheel Recordings just unveiled its 100th release,...
Various: Delusions of Grandeur 50
On first listen the Delusions of Grandeur 50th release brings to mind several descriptors like spacey, mysterious, smooth, funky, weird, super sexy, quirky and groovy. After listening a few more times I'd add...
T. Mixwell: Grit Grime
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"Grit Grime" and that says it all. Chicago's T. Mixwell's EP (really a single and a remix) on Sugar Shack Recordings is streetwise and whip-smart, operating somewhere way...
Won Hunnid: thatmanmonkz on Delusions of Grandeur
Scott Moncrieff (aka thatmanmonkz) hasn't released an average record yet. I mean that: from the first time I heard from him a couple of years back, he's been churning out superb releases, both his...
No Dial Tone and James Curd: Standing Still – Gentle Help (Classic)
Split EPs are an endangered species - a victim of The Great Unbundling that began with dubplates, test presses and short runs and devoured them one-by-one like a horde of locusts. Whether it's for...
Heathered Pearls Releases Belleville Renderings Part I on Ghostly
A rich homage to early Detroit Techno in Heathered Pearls' latest release.
EKO: Funky Disco Music
Rare African disco gets a reissue by the ever-classy Fly By Night imprint.
Lost Inside of Mitch Murder’s Fever Dreams: The Real Deal
Listen to the album so '80s that even the '80s had nothing like it.
Low Noise Productions Sampler Vol 1
Three tracks here preserved from the 2014 Compilation Tape 1 cassette and a new one make for a solid EP from Ottawa.
Love and Civil Unrest: Naeem & Gusto for Detour002
I've been sitting awake all night, pacing between a computer, a phone and a laptop. In the background two audio feeds are playing simultaneously, overlapping in peculiar and sometimes extraordinary ways. One is a...