Rick Wade’s Hip Hop Adventures: Golden Harvest LP
As "Big Daddy Rick", Rick Wade already has some skin in the Ghetto Tech game. If the persistent rumors have any merit, he's also had an invisible hand in many other records that we...
Mike Dehnert: Switch Back To City EP
One of the fundamental issues with modern dancefloor-oriented techno is that, in catering to the needs of DJs, what gets lost is the idea of finding one's own sound and creating something that allows...
The Nathaniel X Project: Excavation EP
Deep House must surely be the most muddled musical grouping around these days; the phrase seems to stumble around lost, like an embarrassingly drunk and slightly unhinged colleague at last month's office party. This...
Various Artists: Qurated from Face To Face
Of all things retro that are coming back in style, the one I welcome most is DJs being given more time and more room to breathe within their sets. As someone who learned her...
Destination Unknown: Till Von Sein & Tigerskin’s Arkansas City
Out of all of the songs named after great cities, this is probably the first dance music anthem dedicated to Arkansas City, pop 12,305. The new record and title track from Till Von Sein...
The Return of 12 Inches: UM Vinyl Sampler
The gradual resurgence of vinyl in the last few years, on the face of it, would seem to be nothing but good newls for House Music. But the numbers don't tell the whole story....
Alex Agore: What Did I Do (Snazzy Traxx)
Anytime I see a new Alex Agore release, I make a point to listen to it because he never disappoints. I can’t say that for more than a handful of producers out there these...
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...
Wolf + Lamb, Nick Monaco ft. Russoul: Festival Erotica
Soul Clap, Wolf+Lamb and this family of labels and musicians release a tremendous amount of goodies every month, but this one has stood out for me. You may think a track called "Festival Erotica"...
Theo Parrish: American Intelligence
Alex Chilton spent most of his life in obscurity, working for shit wages to support himself as his records were released in tiny bundles that might as well have not been released at all....
Adam Pickrell ft. Daniel Hardaway: Reach Suite Remixes
It seems like 2014 has been - well maybe this is every year, but it's been a back-and-forth mix of horrible and beautiful. Take your pick of events. Losing Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robin...
Beyond This Life: Blue Six’s Signs and Wonders
Jay Denes, recording exclusively (and rarely) these days as Blue Six, is one of the most remarkable artists in dance music. I've always been fascinated with the guy's records and the heady philosophy behind...
Low-Slung Deepness: Shaun J Wright & Alinka’s Wait For Love
Chicago label Twirl made quite a splash on the international House scene with their show-stopping debut EP Journey Into The Deep back in October. Their second offering sees label founders Alinka and Shaun J....
Rick and Kenny’s Early Adventures: Classics Vol 4
I wrote a few months back that Moods & Grooves had probably the best undiscovered back catalog of any record label in the Midwest.
On hand as Exhibit A is the fourth in a...
Beau Wanzer: Untitled & Unknown
"Beau Wanzer's twelve track album of material culled from old tapes vacuums up the atmosphere and wears your teeth down to stubs..."
Half of the fun of listening to an album like the Untitled LP...
Josh Wink’s Talking To You
Born in 1995, "Higher State of Consciousness" isn't legal to buy beer in a South Philly bar yet but it is old enough to sit down in front of a Roland AIRA and have...
Ralf Gum’s City Life: In My City LP
Soulful House is a singles-driven genre. You rarely get a true extended play EP rather than a single and a few remixes (including - it's inevitable - the generic instrumental and dub mixes).
Yet...
Tapirus: Enlightenment EP (Emphasis Recordings)
In macroeconomics they call it the "Brain Drain" or more elegantly "the flight of human capital" – the migration of intelligent people from poor countries to seek out their fortune in wealthier lands.
In...
Raw Ten: Funny Thing (Raw Ten)
I thought I'd done my part when I interviewed Pittsburgh Track Authority and previewed this strange project called Raw Ten (say it out loud), a collaboration between the trio and Nic Offer of !!!...
Ricardo Miranda: Up On the Scene EP
There's been quite a trend for throwback dance music of late. Barely a week goes by when I don't receive a slice of "authentic Chicago house from Romania". Drum loops lifted wholesale from an...
MUST READ!
Library of Congress adds Jamie Principle’s “Your Love” to National Recording Registry
The classic of classic Chicago house tracks was selected for preservation as one of "the defining sounds of history and culture." Here's how it was made.
