Kerri Chandler’s Madhouse imprint drops it’s latest release at the end of May, ‘When You Say This’ EP by Jay Ennès & Troy Denari featuring remixes from Applebottom, Steve Mill & Elias Tzikas and Pep & Rash.

Dutch duo, Ennes and vocalist Troy Denari are the perfect pairing for Madhouse with Ennes’ slick but punchy production complimenting Denari’s sublime vocals (Kerri himself has been collaborating with Denari of late).

Madtech, Madhouse’s upstart sibling, weighs in on the remix package with London’s Applebottom transferring from the sister imprint and turning in a clipped, synth driven version that displays the sort of sonic enthusiasm which has drawn him much attention of late.

Steve Mill and Elias Tzikas also go weighty with the synths, layering up melodies, fills and fluttering toplines atop a busy skittering beat with a distinct 80’s vibe.

Rounding the mixes of are Pep & Rash with a skipping UK Garage rework while the vocal phobic are catered for with reprise and instrumental versions of the original.

Dutch producer Issac Christopher returns to MadHouse in June with strident houser ‘The Good Old Days’ backed with remixes from label-boss Kerri Chandler and MadHouse family, Jam & Keys.

Little is known about Issac Christopher other than that he’s based in London, but his sound has captured Kerri Chandler so effectively that in just one year he has become an integral part of the MadHouse imprint, with a couple of releases in under his belt for the label already.

‘The Good Old Days’ is Christopher’s latest and it’s a heavyweight affair. Aggressive New Jersey beats, thrusting stabs and a soulful break all combine with a ‘Gold Old Days’ vocal sample to create a modern piece of house with classic values.

Kerri Chandler turns in two versions of his own on ‘The Good Old Days’. His remix version ups the keys quota while preserving the skipping vibe of the drums, creating a dancefloor weapon which oozes that soulful ‘something’ that has been a staple throughout his career while the instrumental drops the vocal samples and lets the groove do the talking.

Finally, Jam & Keys break out the 909 drums and smooth keys with a gloriously piece of melodic, textured garage.

Issac Christopher’s ‘The Good Old Days’ is released on Mad House 24th June 2013.

Coming Soon From Handmade Recordings

San Francisco house music imprint Handmade Recordings gets set to drop their ninth release, “Loose” from label veteran Michael Ruris, and it’s aimed towards fans of Chicago’s old school acid house sound. This is modern acid house though; minimalist, electronic funk that slyly nods to the phuturistic sounds of Chi-town’s yesteryears of dance floor glory.

“Loose” opens with a beatless intro, comprised of the original’s keyboard signature and a heavy, ambient presence. Then the kick-drum breaks through and is joined by a hi-hat and snare combo that slices through the darkness. An organ bass line joins the fray and pushes all these elements into a rolling, bouncy ensemble, perfect for the peak time dance floor.

The second MIchael Ruris mix, “Loose (Acid),” is everything that the title proclaims it to be. The acid in this little jam is subtle and comes on slowly, before taking hold and making the dance floor holler, “Ow, ow, owsley!” The 303 squelch is sandwiched between tough, funky beats, metallic keyboard sounds, and a tough, understated bass line. This track is not trying to burn you, but make you prance … its one for the surreal end of the AM or one just before the big build to midnight.

Closing things out is Alland Byallo (Bad Animal, Poker Flat) who takes “Loose” into deeper, funkier, and more abstract waters. The bass line jumps out more in the mix, drifting, 313-esque strings float in and out, the beats roll, climb and swing, and a dislocated voice spooks the tiny shards of synth that wheel around in the stereo field. It’s a groover for dancey heads who like things dancey yet heady.

Buy on Juno

After spending 6 months in New York Tin Man returned with 2 records for Pomelo. The first of the pair, the “Underdog EP pt1.”, features two of Tin Man’s most party ready tracks to date.

On the A Side Tin Man shows how to rock at peak time. ‘U.R.’ applies rave stabs over a Tin Man trade mark acid line, achieving maximum dancefloor pressure in an always evolving 13 minutes arrangement. The track title makes it easy to guess where Tin Man drew his inspiration from.

‘Stay Down’ on the flip side goes deeper, delivering a hypnotically grooving minimal house tune, featuring an elevating key line that, like an Escher staircase, perpetually moves up while returning to its starting point.

Tin Man at his best!

Djoon is nestled in a vibrant ‘new’ district of eastern Paris and for near 10 years has played host to known and unknown local and international talents from the soulful New Yorker to the afro deep South African, from the pioneers of Chicago and Detroit to Berlin’s deep tech or eclectic London artists… Always seeking talent, of yesterday of today and of tomorrow, this temple of encounters between dancers and music lovers has seen its wooden dance floor trodden by clubbers from all over the world.

Any attempt ‘to bottle’ a night at such a special place is a fraught journey, one which we have taken and now as this musical church beckons its loyal flock to a very special evening of ‘worship’, we bring on one album, a night at the Djoon celebrating 10 years of dance floor joy, hosted by The legendary Joaquin ‘Joe’ Claussell on a very rare mix CD outing – and South African superstar Black Coffee.

“People don’t come here to show off, they have a natural style and they wanna enjoy themselves” Djoon owner and DJ, Afshin Assadian and his artistic director Lionel Marciano tell us. Afshin’s apprenticeship was as a promoter and club manager and it wasn’t long before he realized that commercial pressure always prevailed over quality of music. Locating an empty space in a deserted district away from the main party places in Paris he developed an instant crush! Djoon was conceived.

Grown up and mature like the very best French wine…. music with soul is what you get there and what the album reflects. Joe’s mix was recorded in a hotel room in Tokyo, his hectic global schedule led him, on a Far Eastern stop over to put together a party in his room. Friends came and vibed with Joe as he worked the turntables, tape machines, … a mix “not about the perfect beat…. but The Soul and The Funk”. Even though “its all over the place” it has a natural musical flow and as he eloquently describes it “ is a collage of Joaquin ‘Joe’ Claussell at that time.”

South Africans’ are the biggest consumers of house music in the world, and Johannesburg is the beating heart of their scene. If you’re looking for proof, there is no need to visit a nightclub. In turning on a television, listening to the radio or walking down the street, it’s clear that a 4/4 pulse is the metronome of everyday life. In this beautiful Southern Hemisphere oasis …fighting to shake its torrid Apartheid history House producers are bigger than The Madonna’s and Coldplay’s so revered by music buyers north of the equator. Bring to the stage Black Coffee a household name and champion of Johannesburg’s preferred sound—vocal- led, percussive, melodic— a sound largely at odds with what’s popular in other international markets;

BLOOP Festival, the avant-garde creative project that marries art with Ibiza’s rich musical heritage, will be washing up on the shores of the white isle from 14th July – 18th August 2013. Artists from around the globe will be using Ibiza’s stunning natural landscape as their canvas, to texture and colour the island with expositions, art installations, music and many more special events.

Now in its 3rd year, BLOOP Festival is the first of its kind, being entirely dedicated to proactive art, creating an environment where artists, artworks and spectators are all participants in the piece. Whilst small and independent, the festival happens in a variety of different ways, all across the island. It is completely FREE and open to everyone and incorporates BLOOP marked interactive installations, parties, video mappings, open air photography expositions and much more.

Art is an important form of communication, and BlOOP’s aim is to give instruments to people, enabling them to think in different ways about social themes and to further appreciate everything that the island of Ibiza has to offer outside of its world renowned clubs and nightlife. Last year saw Martha Cooper and 40 other artists arrive on the island to produce 15 wall paintings on the sides of various buildings both in-use and derelict, the biggest of which was over 6 storeys high on the side of the Ibiza Rocks Hotel. The exhibition also witnessed painted goats, large scale video mapping to thousands of clubbers at We Love…, graffiti workshops as part of BLOOP Kids as well as various artistic creations sprinkled throughout Ibiza’s remotest corners.

More info HERE

Australia’s most exciting new export Contemporary Scarecrow makes a triumphant return this June with a four tracker from Mr. G, following the labels critically acclaimed debut from Boo Williams.

The Contemporary Scarecrow brand takes on two forms, record label, and clothing company, delivering uncompromising quality in both fields. The imprints inaugural EP from Chicago house veteran Boo Williams picked up support from the likes of Lawrence, Jovonn, Hunee, Phil Weeks and Sascha Dive, a striking indication of the sheer quality embodied from the get go. Here the second release welcomes Rekids and Hypercolour artist Mr. G aka Colin McBean, a man whose prominence in the house and techno industry over the years has never faltered and who consistently delivers refreshing, analogue workouts, regardless of the format.

The release kicks off with ‘Potent’, which sees Colin employ his signature gritty, shuffled analogue drums, raw chord stabs and a bulbous tom-driven bass line as the driving force. Subtle variations in the stabs and vocal snippets further fuel the infectious groove, resulting in a dark peak-time number. Next up is ‘Dancefloor’, and as the name would suggest, it’s a direct, hooky rhythm aimed at the discerning house head, with saw wave bass, soul-laden vocals and penetrating chord sequences.

On the flip side, Mr. G drops ‘Tune In’, tipping its focus towards a more refined, deeper sound, with sparse drums, heavily reverberated vocal murmurs and subby low-end tones, the focal point introduces a warm, cossetting organ hook, bringing some additional musicality to the cut. Last up to close the release is ‘Seapuss’, which winds down the EP in a dark and moody fashion, the dropped-tempo number focuses on punchy low- slung drums, elongated bass-lines and swirling white noise to create a profound atmospheric record with a hypnotic, psychedelic feel.

Soma welcome back Glasgow based producer Harvey McKay for his first solo EP of the year, ”Goodbye”. Harvey has had a great start to the year hitting number 1 in the Beatport techno charts with a storming release on Cocoon plus various other releases adding to his already stellar discography. Harvey returns to his home label with two typically heavy tracks both fuelled with his fast paced yet grooving production style.

Title track ”Goodbye” opens the EP and in true Harvey style. This track was truly designed for the dance floor however a deep pad and pitched down vocal gives this track more depth than expected. Harvey’s percussion is typically skippy and gives the track great momentum. After an epic breakdown the track kicks back in with drums crashing and with Harvey’s perfect arrangement, you can’t help but flow with the track.

”The End’‘ is Harvey unleashing the beast within. What seems to be something more reserved quickly becomes a monster as filtered hi hats slowly work their way in, purging any idea of this track being anything less than full on techno. With only a brief rest bite in the middle when the track opens up with a suitably deep stab, ‘‘The End” powers through with ferocious intensity.

Harvey is on the up and up and with more planned for release on Soma in the coming months, there is definitely no stopping this on form producer.

Listen and pre order HERE

Hooked on the funk with their hands on their junk, Navid Izadi and Nick Monaco head for a very bright future. Representing the Bay Area, the Yay-Area, these two boys turning to men are slung together for a back-to-back bootleg release, because, as they say “game recognize game in the bay, mayne”. In a moment of production synchronicity both budding starts churned out edits of Digital Underground’s Freaks Of The Industry – unbeknownst to each other at the time. You could say it was a case of confounding and cocky collective consciousness, sending dance floors soaring into the cosmos.

Over the last few months, the main focus in the Rekids camp has been on Nina Kraviz and the remixing of her 2012 debut LP. Now it’s time for a change, and it’s head honcho Radio Slave’s turn to get in on the remix action, with his 2008 hit ‘Tantakatan’ getting a fresh makeover in the shape of Mr. G’s ‘Nightwatch Dub’ and Prins Thomas’ ‘Diskomiks’.

On the former, Mr. G powers up his MPC and delivers that signature analogue beat-driven sound, tweaking the parts and including extra ideas to truly make the track his own. Cranking up the tempo ever so slightly, Mr. G takes the track into darker territory and adds a sinister rumbling bass line with more than enough low-end energy to make your guts shake. Like all of Mr. G’s best tracks, his ‘Nightwatch Dub’ builds gradually, while never losing that trademark Mr. G groove. This one is going to set techno dance-floors alight.

On his ‘Diskomiks’, the prince of Norwegian ‘space-disco’ Prins Thomas opts for a more organic approach, re-creating the unmistakeable chord stabs of the original on an acoustic piano and utilising a traditional drum kit for that loose, laid-back groove that could only come from a live drummer. His track shimmers with white noise and reverb throughout, before treating us to a delightfully staccato synth bass that typifies the Scandinavian disco sound. Fans of his musical output won’t be disappointed.

Here we have two supremely talented artists tackling the same task from different perspectives, showing that a simple, strong idea can go in one of many directions, and allowing us to indulge our love for techno and disco at the same time!

BUY ON BEATPORT

Because it received such great support and feedback from fans and peers alike, here Sweden’s Martin Brodin releases the single, ‘Don’t Stop The Dance’, taken from his recent ‘Bla Bla Bla’ album and selects choice remixers in the form of Ytre Rymden Dansskola and LeSale. The track is a tasteful re-work of a Bryan Ferry track that also comes with an official video you can see further down.

The original is a slow burning disco scorcher with plenty of corrugated synth lines, lazy but groove inducing claps and shimmering male and female vocals that work in unison. It’s stuffed with colour and analogue details but never feels anything other than blissful, and if you prefer your records without vocals you’re in luck as a dub version is also included.

The flipside has the stellar Austrian producer, LeSale – who has received high acclaimed for his releases on Vienna label, Luv Shack Records – on remix duties. He strips things back to a doleful disco slow jam with fewer synth lines. It makes the track perfect for those moments after the sun has set with its warm and inviting mood.

Finally, the other remix comes from Norwegian act Ytre Rymden Dansskola, aka the duo of Jarle Bråthen and Marius Våreid, who have created a fine name for themselves with releases on Prins Thomas’s Full Pupp label. Their version is laced up with funky guitar riffs, plenty of beachy chords and glistening percussive clatters and hits that bit harder on top of a raw beat.

An already much loved single gets plenty of new life breathed into here… watch it go this summer!