Singles Club #17

Music

Each week our very own Joe Europe picks the tracks that have delighted his ear drums and are destined to go on to cause a stir. Joe (himself no slouch on a drum machine/turntable) puts to bed the notion that writing about music is akin to dancing about architecture – a wordsmith of great grace with a mighty fine ear to boot – we at R$N take note of his choices with quasi-religious fervor and we recommend wholeheartedly that you do too… This week, new sounds from the likes of Chocky on Big Bait, North Pollard and Throne of Blood.

Chocky Stoney Clouds EP (Big Bait)

Chocky has been dropping exciting cuts of deep-as-you-like house music on a plethora of labels of late including City Fly, Flumo and Artful Devision and he feels like an artist with a gathering momentum behind him. Now hes teamed up with German house heads Big Bait for this new 12 that landed this week. In addition to his two originals we get remixes from De:Pot and also Scherbe who you may know from his contributions on Uncanny Valley.

The two original tracks from Chocky are bona fide low-slung bombs. Go Bananas is set up with a lovely, filtered chord sequence that bubbles away sounding not dissimilar to something youd hear from the likes of Pepe Braddock. On the flip side Stoney Clouds is a deep, brooding groover that growls along with a slick-as-fuck shuffle. This would be an impressive package with just the two originals but the remixes from De:Pot and Scherbe are just the icing on the cake. Both take the original ideas of Mr Chocky and take things into more broken and abstract territory.

Out now on wax

North Pollard Never Going to Let You Dub (Audio Parallax)

New clobber from Audio Parallax is always worth checking and this time were treated to two lovely little nuggets from Melbourne based North Pollard with a remix from none other than Ooft!. Never Going to Let You Dub is a nicely polished slow-jam in the vein that Audio Parallax are so adept at digging up and putting out. The Ooft! mix takes the original and adds an extra level of expectancy and a lovely, slightly growling analogue bass line. Beautifully crafted. Bringing things to a close Pheonixmauritius is less of a dancefloor destroyer but opens up nicely with a lighter, more airy vibe. Oh and its all pressed up on a snazzy clear vinyl.

Out now on wax

Various Artists Throne of Black Catalogue EP (Throne of Blood)

Rounding off my selections this week its a new offering from Throne of Blood, the NYC based label that have been a corner stone of everything electronic for some years now. This release sees them teaming up with the Black Catalogue imprint from Detroit City to bring a selection of quality underground cuts from Pixelife, the Carter Brothers and Monty Luke. The results are well worth checking.

The Carter Brothers kick off the proceedings with their Jamaica Burning (Version 2). The sampled dub-beat with its splashy tape echo sets things up, and is augmented with churning electronics and weighty kick drum. Following this weve got Behavior Detection from Monty Luke, which blends heads down chugger with broken synth arps. The two cuts from Pixelife take things into warmer territory, with the acid sound pallet of 5 Month Survey and The Doctor is Out.

Out on wax and digi in October