GROOVE CHARTS January/February 2012 – Top 50 Singles

Och – Whalesong – Trelik
Diverse – The Weekly Contract Events – Ominira
Levon Vincent – Impression Of A Rainstorm – Novel Sound
Diverse – Sound Sampler Vol. 1 – Soundsampler
B-Tracks – Specialize – Supply
Kölsch – Opa – Kompakt Extra
Manuel Tur – About To Fall – Mild Pitch
Robag Wruhme – Donnerkuppel – Kompakt
Agoria, Carl Craig & La Scalars – Speechless (Radio Slave Rmx) – Infiné
Storm Queen – It Goes On – Environ
Roots Panorama – Threee (Ripperton Rmx) – Versatile
Chasing Kurt – Money (Tom Ellis Rmx) – Good Ratio
Four Tet – Pyramid/Locked – Text
Lowtec – Coldred – Nonplus
OCP – Delta City – Aim
Farben – Xango – Faitiche
Fink – Move On Me (Marcus Worgull Edit) – Philomena
Grindvik & Billie – Hold, Doubt, Back – Drumcode
Yakine – Last Harmony (Gwen Maze & Jef K Rmx) – One
D’Marc Cantu – A Second Earth – M>O>S

For bookings, please contact James (email: james [@] elitemm.co.uk)

Luke Solomon is a survivor. Starting out in the early ’90s, he’s still going strong, with a classic label, an enormous chart hit and plenty of memories behind him. He’s connected to some of the most respected names in UK house—Justin Harris, Rob Mello, Kenny Hawkes. And the US too. Classic, the label he started with Derrick Carter, hardly needs an introduction: It was among the best underground house imprints of the late ’90s and early ’00s, and one of the most idiosyncratic, reflecting Solomon and Carter’s wide-ranging tastes perfectly. Solomon, in particular, has always surprised, whether it be via his Freaks collaboration with Justin Harris or his solo work for Rekids. In this entertaining conversation, Solomon talks about how London saved his life and remembers his friend Kenny Hawkes.

Listen to the conversation with Luke here:

http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?exchange=78

Luke Solomon – ‘Ultrasound’ (inc. Kalabrese & Losoul remixes) Fullbarr – FBV003 / FBD012

Arthur Barr’s ever impressive Fullbarr label joins forces with house hero Luke Solomon for a stunning new single featuring mixes from Kalabrese and Losoul…

Luke Solomon is undeniably one of British house music’s unsung heroes, with an impressive track record of underground success. No one could debate Luke Solomon’s dance music credentials. From setting up the seminal label Classic Recordings with Derrick Carter to taking quirky house to the UK Top 10 and international charts, with his band Freaks, to DJing around the globe and performing live, Luke has been there for many of the more interesting 4/4 moments of the last decade. Along the way he has recorded for labels such as Crosstown Rebels, Rekids, Playhouse as well as his own Music for Freaks & Classic imprints. Now he joins up with one of the most promising young labels around, the excellent Fullbarr, for his superb new single.

The release gets going with the original version, a wonderfully adroit production that blurs the genre lines, mixing up electro influenced rhythms with house sensibilities and techy riffs. Acidic lines run over rich flowing bass, pitch shifted vocals rub up against haunting strings and the whole things is beautifully tied together by a tight rhythm track, sublime.

The first of the remixes comes from Zurich’s Kalabrese, a producer, DJ and promoter who has recorded for the likes of Perlon and toured extensively with his live band Rumpelorchestra. For his mix of ‘Ultrasound’ he delivers a warm, organic sounding slice of house music that maintain much of the character of the original whilst taking thing s little deeper.

Next up we have Solomon’s own ‘Version 1.2 Horn Version’. This mix picks up the intensity, adding in searing horn parts and ramping up the arpegiated riffs to create an alternative mix that is certain to find favour on the floor.
Finally we have the superb LoSoul at the controls, a producer who has been at the heart of the hugely respected Playhouse label for the last 15 years. For his mix of ‘Ultrasound’ he turns in a bass infused monster that draws on rumbling subs and taut drum patterns to create a tough yet funk fuelled mix that is a testament to LoSoul’s production skills.

This is another superb release from a producer who never fails to impress, and a label that is rapidly becoming a major player.

‘Ultrasound’ is released in January/February on vinyl & digital on the Fullbarr label.

Tracklist:
1. Ultrasound
2. Ultrasound (Kalabrese remix)
3. Ultrasound (Version 1.2 Horn version)
4. Ultrasound (LoSoul remix)

Ripperton – Let’s hope (+ Bicep remix) – Tamed Music
Autodeep feat. Bajka – Freedom dove (Ripperton Remix) – Peppermint Jam
Deetron feat. Hercules and the love affair – Crave – (Ripperton remix) – MusicMan
Max Cooper – Autumn haze (Ripperton Remix) – Traum

Nitin – ‘The Nine In One’ (My Favorite Robot Records) – SEE BELOW…

Kruse & Nuernberg – ‘Mesmerized’ (C-Rock & Brett Johnson remix) (Moodmusic) – LISTEN HERE

COMING SOON…

Molecule – ‘Day Dreaming’ (Brett Johnson rmx) (Harmonious Discord)

We (X-Press 2) have been Djing and producing dance music for over 20 years now. First as DJs then later on as remixers and producers, most notably for our track, Lazy, in 2002 with David Byrne. During that time we have seen huge changes in the way that music is made, marketed and eventually sold. Recording studios that cost hundreds per day to hire down to one desktop computer, marketing and promotions departments now replaced by social media and 12 inch singles reduced to digital files.

Back in the mid – late 80s, we were wide-eyed, eager club goers from the less than salubrious western suburbs of London, venturing ‘up west’ to try and find the clubs that were playing the funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, electro, disco and early house that our ears were craving. Then spending every Saturday schlepping round the cooler record stores of Soho and the West End looking for the sounds that we were hearing.

Everyone hanging around the counter waiting for the latest import delivery. As well as the deleted albums, 7s and 12s of rare grooves, jazz, funk and soul from back in the day, we lapped up anything that was new, shrink wrapped and came from exotic warm places like New York, Chicago, Spain, Italy and Belgium. For us, as DJs and music collectors, it was all about hanging out in the record shops waiting for the next delivery. Now the music is delivered direct to our hard drive from the artists themselves. Of course the travelling aspect of our job is so much easier now. Two boxes of vinyl that weighed around 30 kilos to a CD wallet and now simply a USB stick, cuts out that nail biting wait by the carousel to see if your box will turn up.

Our collective, eclectic tastes in music are part of the make up of X-Press 2, that whole ethos of finding new sounds but dipping back into the past is part of what we, as clubbers, dancers, DJs and now producers, have always loved about what we’re involved with.

There seems to be a lot of this going on in house music right now, with younger, newer producers and DJs looking back and taking inspiration from what’s gone before and trying to interpret that, but in so doing, creating something all their own and consequently, new. I suppose it’s the constant cycle and recycle of dance music and just what we were doing 20 years ago. We were listening to a lot of disco records, European techno alongside new productions from Chicago.

We took all that and made our own version of it. Something that we’ve continued to do so until now, with the release of our current album, The House of X-Press 2. The results of 25 plus years of inspiration and two years work. Inspired too, by the film Paris Is Burning. A film about the voguing and house ballroom scene in New York from the late 80s/early 90s. A scene at it’s peak around the same time that we started making music.

Twenty years later and the technology that we used couldn’t be more different.

Back then it was a sampler, a PC running some sequencer software and all manner of other kit. We’d spend the first two-three hours every session sampling then getting the samples in time, working out any time stretching on a pencil and paper.

Nowadays we do pretty much everything on one computer program. It’s reduced an entire room full of analogue desk, keyboards, samplers, record decks and outboard gear down to one desk top machine, that samples and stretches pretty much instantly.

The record decks are still there. The one piece of analogue kit that we’ll never lose.

Follow X-Press 2 on Twitter: www.twitter.com/xpre552

If you would like to press the button with his name on it, please do….

http://qwartz.fr/2012/01/24/qwartz-8-categorie-album-cat/

Thanks!

If you need evidence to reassure your vote, listen to the updated version of The Difference Engine (Redux) here:

In his own words….

“The first CD I have done for a while has been a long one in the making. I have had time to gestate, ruminate and alternate.

I have had time to select and re-select, and eventually reach a point where I felt I could make the CD flow from beginning to end.

The hardest part of that is being restricted to 78 minutes. I play broad spectrum of house that I generally have a couple of hours to expose to people.

Over a longer period of time my sets tend to make a lot more sense, but I think I managed it some how.

Every piece of music I have chosen will , I hope one day , still be relevant rather than just another disposable dance record that falls amongst the trash heap of fashion and trends.

I have also tried to create something that represents my cohesion with D’Edge club in Brazil.

I was fortunate enough to be one of the first international DJ’s in it’s beginnings, and from the outset, the club and it’s manifesto had a great impact on me. From the outset, I felt at home.

I genuinely hope that my CD translates and encapsulates an international audience, and in turn creates new fans that may one day get the opportunity to experience a truly fantastic club that represents great music before anything else.”

Long-time Bloc collaborators Plex come out of the shadows of their south-east London home to demonstrate to the Bloc massive their fervent, heartfelt commitment to the cerebral edge of rave with the finest lineup they’ve ever fielded for their annual Plex showcase. Their shows in London are the last word in dancefloor devastation and have featured luminaries from Anthony Shake Shakir to Dopplereffekt via Norman Nodge and Morphosis.

As Bloc is in their backyard for the first time, they have created a monster curatorial collaboration in the form of the never-before-attempted dual-headed Plex Vs Perc Trax concept.

Since its inception in 2004 Perc Trax has grown from an outlet for Perc’s own productions to one of the UK’s most forward-thinking labels, fusing dancefloor techno with experimental and industrial influences. In step with current sounds but always forging ahead to set its own agenda, Perc Trax is home to Forward Strategy Group, Sawf, Truss and Perc himself whilst featuring guest appearances from a rogues gallery of modern techno including Ancient Methods, Peter Van Hoesen, Sigha, Tommy Four Seven, Lucy, Marcel Fengler and Milton Bradley. A recent switch to album projects has seen successful long players from Perc and Sawf, with the debut album by Forward Strategy Group due this spring.

Surgeon / Monolake / Truss / Perc / Cosmin TRG / Lucy / Objekt