Rissa Garcia: How Many Times (Cosmic Disco)
Thousands of people woke up this morning, opened a SoundCloud account and decided to call themselves producers. Rissa Garcia is not one of them: she's been on the scene for awhile now, and her...
Brawther: Remixes (Reissue) (Balance)
Out of print and fetching upwards of fifty bucks a copy, this four track collection of remixes from French supremo Brawther received a limited 12" reissue in May... and promptly went out of print...
Boo Williams: Crying Black Man / Changes (Reissue) (Noble Square)
Some of the best Chicago House Music of the '90s was released on what have essentially become "ghost labels", existing in some limbo between a lost youth and legal opportunism (watch, for instance, the...
Johnny Fiasco’s Nothing But Love
Well damn, I wasn't expecting disco from Johnny Fiasco, but disco is what you get in a single that looks back to the big chorus of a 1980 hit by Mystic Merlin. After listening...
Rick Wade: Big Push (The Playground)
This is an interesting project from a new label out of Denver called The Playground: vinyl only, limited edition and (I think) hand-stamped, with a run limited to 200. I suspect they'll be hard...
Andy Vaz: 7 Inches of Straight Vacationing Part II (Yore)
This is a neat limited release package: a 200 issue pressing of a pair of brilliant remixes from Andy Vaz's Straight Vacationing LP. Patrice Scott's remix is stunning: it opens with a fuzzy 303...
DJ Kon: All About Youx (Soul Clap Records)
This is being billed as "some of Kon's first original House productions". That might be technically true, and you might be able to go into a court of law and plead that with your...
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...
Anonymous and Andrew Emil featuring Gryffyn: Mushroom Man
There's been a serious buzz around this record for months now, most notably because it marks Mark Farina and Great Lakes Audio's return to vinyl. I'm going to spoiler this by saying that yes,...
James Johnston: Consumer EP (No Matter What)
Good God is it a grim date in the halls of hell sifting through the thousands of faceless, tuneless tracks that do such damage to the Tech House genre that few self-respecting producers really...
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...
Garrett David: The Queen! Tracks (Stripped and Chewed)
Photo by Ken Paul
SmartBar is celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, and despite the scrapbook documentaries and other forms of Chicago mythology, the club has a legacy of residents that is second to none....
Chicago Skyway: Thunder (Altered Moods Recordings)
Three original tracks of absolutely perfect Deep House from Chicago Skyway, with a remix from Altered Moods' Malcolm Moore rounding out a stellar release. What's perfect? Probably that you can listen to these soaring...
Liz Torres: Your Love Is All I Need (Luxor Records)
Gaga never did this. Madonna looks sad even trying, orbiting around hashtag-EDM pretty boys and trying to stoke tired controversies to recapture her heat. No, they broke the mold when they made Liz Torres,...
Norm Talley: Analog XTC (Minimood Extra)
I am trying to hold my shit together here and I don't think I'm doing too good a job of it. In "Analog XTC", Norm Talley simply goes beyond what Deep House is supposed...
Cosmic Kids and Fingerpaint: Reality on the Horizon
Hypocritical stars are calling out the EDM apocalypse and claiming all new dance music is a bummer. Is it true? Maybe if you live in a freakin' bubble. The underground is chugging along just...
Josh Wink: Balls (Ovum)
Motown released twenty #1 singles during the 1960s. Freed by the digital marketplace from having to package, market or even pay for releases, today's Berry Gordys hold on to the notion that a guy...
Franck Roger’s Extensions of Yesterday (Circus Company)
I don't always agree with Franck Roger's pronunciamentos about the state of dance music, but at least he's approaching the debate with some honesty. Start a thread on Facebook with the question "What's wrong...
Tim Zawada: Tugboat Edits Vol 1
Tim Zawada's popular edit series makes it's debut on vinyl with an eclectic selection of R&B, boogie and pop from the previous 30 years. Since a couple of the artists on here keep a...
Brodanse featuring Cari Golden: Activate (Danse Club)
Of all the self-declared archivists sifting through the silt and sand of classic Deep House, Danse Club established itself right quick with several cuts remixed and reissued with a degree of respect you'll never...
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.
