Thunder Picks #022

There is so much good music coming out right now, too much in fact, I do not even have time to listen to all the great records I am buying. I'm leaving record shops with about half what I would like to because of needing-some-money-to-buy-food reasons. So, here are some of the ones that have really floated my boat along with some other stuff in what the Spanish might call es la gran seleccion de trueno!

Tee Scott Interview

Tee Scott is a DJ I really, really wish I had had the opportunity to hear play. Everyone eulogises Larry Levan (who passed away 21 years ago today), who was probably fantastic, but Tee played to a tougher, rougher, blacker crowd at Better Days than Larry had at the Garage, and Tee apparently drove them wild with his tune selection, audacious mixing style and natural talent. He also gave Frankie Knuckles his first DJing break (and lent him the records to play too), built his own mixer, pioneered the idea of using 3 turntables in clubs, and was dropping Gregorian monk chants and thunderstorms almost 20 years before you heard Junior did it at the at the Sound Factory. In all the interviews with him I've read, he is hugely humble and here he is on the radio, about a year before he passed away, being humble, lovely and eulogising Larry Levan

Headless Ghost EP (Tamed Musiq)

Not that I realised it when I bought the first headless Ghost release on Clone earlier this year but this is a Ripperton alias. Whereas that earlier release was fairly pumping, this is a more subtle affair, with the stand out track, for me is Out. It does not really do that much, the incessant piano line, nagging vocal and crisp percussion slowly such you suck you in. No big break downs or anything, just late night basement dancing music.

Loskober – First Sight (Soul Notes)

This is stickered black label release on 180 gram vinyl is apparently the work of a new artist on Spainish label Soul Notes . One side is a pretty rough (as in good) acid banger, which will probably get all the attention. But on the other side there is massive filter disco pumper. Kind of try to imagine the sort of thing DJ Sneak was making in 1994 or Daft Punk were playing in 1997, with huge drums whacked over the top, and you will get the idea. Maybe the filter disco is due a revival? I bloody hope so.

Ryoma Takemasa – Deepn (Jazzy Sport)

I only really know about Japanese label Jazzy Sport because of its DJ Nature releases. This is cut from quite different cloth though,  more up-tempo, whilst staying mellow  but deep, gently bubbling with a truly beautiful remix from by The Backwoods,  who are DJ Kent and two other guys I am not going to pretend to know. Deep house with a difference.

Tuff City Kids – Roby Tease EP (Delsin)

Gerd Janson and Phillip Lauer (who it just so happens are people behind R-Zone 5 – see Thunder Picks #09), are back with their first Tuff City Kids record for over a year. The first release on Unterton caused quite a stir, so maybe it is a little strange they so long to follow it up? I guess they are quite busy chaps but it has definitely been worth the wait . And this one is mixed by Lopazz, who was responsible for some of the best music on the once ubiquitous Get Physical (what happened to that label?!)

Tambien  – Drogato (ESP Institute)

Tambien are trio from Munich, made up of Marvin and Valentino, the two guys behind the Public Possession record shop in the city, and their mate Bartellow. Apparently this is their, and I quote, most high profile release yet. That is all well and good but just having someone in the group called Bartellow would grounds enough for inclusion in Thunder Picks, fortunately the music is pretty good too. Drogato has Tumblack style tribal drums but set is an altogether more modern context, with warped electronics weaving in and out those beats. I love it. It one to crank up the smoke machine and losing yourself for a few minutes to.

Autre – Chapter 5 EP (never learnt)

Discovered this label when they released the wonderful Marble World by Christopher Rau.  All four tracks on this EP are ace, gorgeous deep house not deep house. The eerie sounding Test 7369 is pretty unusual and the pure lushness of The Unphyscial Journey reminds me a discovering amazing dubs on the b-sides of records months after I bought them during lengthy in bedroom headphone listening sessions bitd.

From The Vaults: Dopplereffekt – Infophysix

Oh. My. God.

Party of the Week – Zleep with Octa Octa, Friday 8 November

Having thrown parties in Nottingham since 2010, alongside the occasional excursion to Croatia, the Zleep recently decided it was time spread their wings and do a few parties in London. The first took place in August at the Dance Tunnel  with Delta Funktionen sold out. They have a loose remit genre wise, rather than ploughing a single furrow, which enables them to showcase a wide range of acts from across the board of electronic music. Their guest for their second party tonight, Brooklyn's Octo Octo, demonstrates that perfectly. With a number of releases on highly cult Los Angeles imprint 100% Silk, the enigmatic producer and recent RBMA graduate better known as Michael Bouldry-Morrison, plays his only London show this year. There is still few tickets left if you do not fancy taking your chance son the door.

And Finally

As we started off with Tee and I reckon he would not have been into any of the records above, I thought we should finish with some propermusic and one of my favourite Tee mixes, Columbus Circle If You Read My Mind.

And remember, you can catch Miles playing at the final Thunder of the year with Detroit Godson Rick Wilhite next Friday. Full details and last advance tickets here.

Miles 'Da Boss Windrossthunder' Simpson

Sound of Thunder Group Here