While our return to the dancefloor may have been postponed once more in the UK, our global house family have been slowly getting back to what they do best, with club heat a-plenty landing from the very finest imprints in dance. From Berlin to Detroit, via London, Amsterdam and beyond, Faith’s latest batch of singles reviews rounds up the very best house of right now, as we hit the 2021 half-way mark.
** Single of the Month **
Alex Kassian – Leave Your Life (Pinchy & Friends)
Ex Londoner, now residing in Berlin, Alex’s ‘Leave Your Life’ is a stunning record and his finest moment so far. The title track in its original form is a Balearic, epic wonder with a Talk Talk feel, and no doubt would have got spins from Alfredo at Amnesia back in the day. There’s a more dancefloor friendly version, but the OG is the one. Don’t sleep on the mesmerising ‘Spirit of Eden’ on the flip, which takes things into beautiful, real deep house territory that should appeal to Ron Trent and Larry Heard fans alike. To top it all off, there is a bass heavy remix from dub legend Bill Laswell. Essential and easily one of the most standout records of the last months.
Guillaume & The Couto Dumonts feat Dave Aju – The Chase (Classic)
Originally out of Montreal now living in Europe, Guillaume certainly looks worldwide for his musicaL inspirations; 'The Chase' features San Franciso hero Dave Aju in a musical collage of jazz, house and African musical influences that remind me of one of those classic Nina Simone tracks that would fill dancefloors at the Wag club on those Monday Jazz nights. Harry Romero takes a more techy house route but without ever losing the cool vibe of ‘The Chase’. Music like this will be perfect for when we finally open up - inspirational stuff.
LDLDN - Make Time (Natural Frequency Records)
NTS favourite LDLDN is back on his Natural Frequency label with another essential piece of deep house. While the remixes from Midnight Snacc (Semtek and Iona) and Broke One are excellent, our money is on the two original tracks. ‘Make Time’ and ‘Refresh Rate’, a slick deep house track that just oozes London and a grunting, beatdown affair respectively, are two more compelling reasons why you should be checking this label and its previous releases out.
Joe Claussell – Raw Tones (Pandemic Blues) (Sacred Rhythm)
Picked this up on a 10” a month or so back. Some of Joe's less overtly soulful, more club ready tracks to make your body move! ‘Lockdown Blues’ and ‘You Mutha Fuka’ are pure fire and getting rinsed over here! Balancing the EP nicely, ‘Way Back When’ takes things to a more soulful and musical place, coming on like a long lost Nu Groove track with vintage drum programming and some beautiful keys in the classic Claussell vein. Rekids have signed these and a handful of other tracks to make up a double pack coming in the next weeks. Go seek!
Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange feat Wayne Snow – Kruzberg Kix Vol. 1 (Secretsundaze)
Bit of self love here as it’s on our label [Secretsundaze] but it’s a real doozy! Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange is Melbourne born jazz drummer Ziggy Zeitgeist, who has previously released a track on Brownswood and we caught playing live at London Jazz institution Church of Sound a few years back. The A-side ‘Something Special’ is a dreamy and hazy house track featuring vocalist Wayne Snow, while ‘Kreuzberg Kix’ is jazzy, off-kilter, low slung groover that has been rinsed by many of the best DJs out there from Floating Points, Antal and Gilles Peterson to Touching Bass. Respectfully amping up the hats, kick and bass the one and only Ge-ology is on remix duties for a heavy workout.
Marcellus Pittman – Pick Yourself Back Up (Unirhythm)
Always got mad love for brother Marcellus! His music is simply sublime. Chosen two different tracks that he has slipped out across the last year on his bandcamp that seem to have fallen short on many people’s radars as they were not released as usual on wax. ‘Walking Into Love Vibes’ is sublime, deep machine funk as only Marcellus can do while ‘Pick Yourself Back Up’ should be an underground anthem with its heavier kick, rough drums and what we think are probably his own sweet vocals (which might be a first). Pure class!
Spencer Parker - Dream The Future (Work Them Records)
The track that Parker started his recent Essential Mix with is here and is a real treat for anyone who was into his raw, groove-led Its Not Over releases from a decade ago. As is often the case with good music, simplicity is key, and with just a 909, an arpeggio and a noisy little vocal sample, the Berlin-based Croydon-ite has crafted a memorable track that jacks.
Levon Vincent - 4am Rush (Novel Sound)
We’ve not really hidden our admiration for Levon Vincent’s music here at Faith but, honestly, he’s really pulled it out of of the bag with this aptly titled rattler. Built around a pulsing bass tone that gives the track incredible pace, while some brutal snare work adds grit and stunning synth strings provide the correct amount of emotional clout, ‘4am Rush’ is one of those all too rare tracks. An instrumental anthem in the making.
Retromigration – Bloom Street EP (Wolf Music)
Welcoming Amsterdam based Retromigration to the pack, Wolf Music serve up another killer EP, this time with this hotly tipped German producer having a moment. Firing off quality after quality release on hot imprints Healthy Scratch, Ltd, GLBDOM and the Ravanelli Disco Club, Retromigration is carving out his signature style of chopped up beats and loops, showcased across the ‘Bloom Street’ EP. The rollin’ New York house of the title cut will have your head nodding and your feet tapping as its full to the brim with swagger. The B-side opens with the deep and balmy, jazz house ‘Free Spirit’, taking you on a ride with an infectious and comforting groove. Arthur and Retro must have had a bloody good night in the studio with ‘Colin’ on the jazz, as the lights are dialled down low on this smoky, deep house trip. Closing cut ‘Slick Walkin’ brings ‘Bloom Street’ to an elegant piano close. Does Wolf ever put out a bad record?
Dam Swindle – Salsoul Edits Vol 1 (Salsoul)
The Swindle fellers get to grips with a few of Salsoul's greatest and coolest records for edits and mixes. The Salsoul catalogue has kinda been done to death in many ways, but the percussive madness of Kongas 'Kongas Fun' is a near perfect ‘breaks n beat’ mixer that any DJ will find a place for in their sets. First Choice's ‘Let No Man Put Asunder' while decades old remains a template for much of what Chicago took to create house music, the breakdown is wicked and perhaps a nod to Ron Hardy's 'aw shucks' edit of 'Asunder' he made famous at the Muzik Box. Hard to breathe new life into music that is so much part of the culture and fabric of our music, but for me the Swindlers have done just that .
Belcampo feat Elisabesth Troy – Your Kissing (Freerange Records)
It’s one of those rare moments when a song comes along, and you know it’s gonna be up there with the anthems. ‘Your Kissing’ by mystery producer Belcampo on Freerange may be perceived as having crossover potential but don’t be mistaken. This is deep, its underground and its soulful, everything you would want in a perfect house record that’s as refreshing as the name on the can! Is it really twenty years since legendary British singer Elisabeth Troy swayed us with her voice on MJ Cole’s Crazy Love’? She’s back in fine fettle with an infectious vocal refrain. There’s a pumped-up remix by the elusive man himself, the EP topped off with a bonus disco nugget. With flashes of Daft Punk and lashings of that 90s French house touch, this record is destined to coalesce. Big track alert.
K.M.O. ft. Byron The Aquarius – Space Funk EP (Wayout Records)
Anything Byron The Aquarius gets his hands on is nothing short of massive and the ‘Space Funk’ EP is no exception. Reminiscent of days of record store digging and stumbling across a gem that you end up rinsing for eons. This is spacey as fuck. The hypnotic groove of ‘Inner Soul’ leaves you in no doubt to the level of musicianship here with solid production in its bones by Manchester producer K.M.O, taken to the next level by Byron’s magic fingers and otherworldly keyboard wizard Tim Jules. Mauskovic Dance Band member, Chris Bruining adds electrifying live percussion to the already deep funk, future forward, super warm beats. It’s a top prod blend of deep house stylings with a sprinkling of Fred P all over it. Deep house stylings for the heads.
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