I've been a massive fan of Opolopo for some time, an artist who seems to have nailed the art of bringing the 80s vibe to boogie and house floors alike.
That said, the Stockholm-based beard-fancier's repertoire far from ends there; remixes on the likes of Mario Biondi and St. Germain showcase the incredible breadth of Opolopo's sound and talents.
Best known for numerous releases on nu soul labels such as Tokyo Dawn as well as ground-breaking house labels such as Local Talk, Opolopo is lesser-known as a true philanthropist - to say his Soundcloud is brimming with incredible freebies would be an understatement.
So here are a couple of cuts I've ripped from his feed, all incredible, all free. GO!
My first deep house mix for quite some time, showcasing the best tracks I've dug out over the last week or so. Very Innervisions-esque, featuring a few wicked promos I've been sent from the likes of Sonar Kollektiv, Lost My Dog and Gomma - let me know what you think.
Purchase links through Juno can be found via the Mixcloud embed.
Continuing on the house vibe, I've been sent some cracking tracks of late with one of the real standouts being the 'Joyride EP' from Germany's Rhode & Brown.
The latest release on Toy Tonics (the sublabel of the legendary Gomma stable), the EP features 4 cuts of quality house, my personal fave being Kyodai's mix on 'Under Your Spell'. I wasn't surprised to find out that Kyodai, a name I keep hearing at the minute, is in fact the alter ego of Wagon Cookin', another long-time SLL favourite. Kyodai is currently releasing on Sweden's Local Talk, a label that can do no wrong right now.
The EP is brimming with classic minor-key chord progressions, old skool piano riffs, rolling basslines and crisp percussion. It's the attention to detail in the production that's the real sell here, with the tracks showcasing the 90s nu garage sound that is so in vogue. A wicked blend of the old and new, an EP with a fresh take on deep house.
Current support from all the big hitters including Kerri Chandler, Osunlade and Nick Holder.
The 'Joyride EP' is out on 6th May via Toy Tonics - grab it from Juno Download here. | toytonics.de
Bristol duo Outboxx recently released their first full-length, self-titled EP on Idle Hands, and I've had it on repeat ever since.
A journey moving through soulful lo-fi, snappy nu garage and big room belters, the album is a real accomplishment in its re-imagination of traditional house and techno. Whilst it plays like an EP you think you've heard time and again, it has a moreish quality that gets in your head unlike any act I've heard since Disclosure.
The standout track for me is 'Home', as featured on this week's Stop.Look.Listen. Podcast, a silky slice of slow 4/4 with a gorgeous, melancholic vocal.
Another act forging the new sound of the dancefloor, I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for Outboxx's future releases - safe to say this new album is already, in my book, a modern classic. Check out the track 'All The Right Moves' below.
Here's the latest podcast fo' yo' lugs. A real nice diverse mix this week, featuring everything from future beats to dubby electronica, through tropical funk via disco, hip-hop and reggae. I was massively chuffed to receive a re-mastered version of Rose Royce's 'Still In Love' this week too - it just had to go on there! Anyway, take a listen and let me know what you think.
I mentioned getting more and more into my deep house having moved to Australia. Maybe it's the weather, or something in the water - who knows. So I've turned my attention back to an old friend - the Resident Advisor Podcast - and found another former music companion in Solomun, who recently recorded a mix for them.
As if reliving a past life, I reverted to a habit I used to exercise weekly, sometimes daily, and jumped into the podcast comments to dig out the tracklisting from the ever-present trainspotters. It was great to hear that distinctive Solomun sound again with some new twists (Kate Bush on an RA Podcast anyone?!). The mix was more commercial than the style I'd remembered him for, but it figures as I've since learned that Solomun is pretty much dance music royalty now, having secured two major residencies in Ibiza this year. He recently featured on the front page of Mixmag - safe to say he's come leaps and bounds since the early days as an undercover minimal house producer.
What I was surprised at, however, was the amount of negativity and abuse towards him in the forum. I'm all for healthy debate, but the level of criticism seemed extremely harsh for someone who's produced countless quality tracks championed by such world-beating DJs as Dixon and Âme. It's just a shame that the house scene clearly continues to be 'dominated' by haters, which is a great shame, and part of the reason I got out. It's sad that people get more caught up in the scene's politics than the the music. Is it just me? Am I completely out-of-touch? Maybe it's my age talking - after all, I've gone from playing in dark, dank basements until 6am to spending my weekends listening to neo-soul and funk records...
Anyhow, I digress; personally I enjoyed the mix and it got me thinking back to five years ago when I was heavily into minimal. So here are a couple of highlights from Solomun's RA mix, a personal favourite via his Diynamic label from 2007, plus a wicked 4-hour Boiler Room mix by Dixon and Âme from October last year. Loving the return to house - like an old friend, it never fails.
I've been on a retrospective deep house tip of late. Over the years one artist that has never failed for me is Fred Everything.
From his time pushing the boundaries for a whole host of underground house labels in the US (think Amenti, Large and Lowdown), Fred's tireless attention to detail has made him one of the the go-to producers for top labels across the land (Defected, Freerange, OM, Local Talk).
To mark several milestones across his social networks, Fred has posted an unreleased mix of CJ Hilton's 'Losing You' as a limited download on SoundCloud. Typically timeless. Go grab it before it's taken down!
This week marked iTunes' 10th birthday - how mad is that?!
Whilst there have been a lot of posts chipping around the web about this milestone, this simply got me thinking - what on earth was I buying in my early days of iTunes?
The answer: lots of Demarkus Lewis apparently, which I'm far from ashamed of. After all, this exercise could have revealed a past fancy with cheesy party remixes or something. Thankfully, for now, all that remains a closely guarded secret. :-)
