Midland - Through Motion - Aus Music 

The latest release from Leeds based producer Midland oozes quality. The three track release features two of Midlands own productions, and a remix of the track “Through Motion” by the Tevo Howard. The first track “Shelter” is a dark cavernous number perfect for a late morning set in a club with very little lighting. Definitely one that would keep the crowds tired legs moving.  “Through Motion” has a different feel to it as Midland fuses Techno and UK Garage to create a moody rumbling record with a catchy UK Garage esque bass line. The real standout track on this EP, for me, is the Tevo Howard remix of “Through Motion”.  The Chicago based Producer and DJ introduces his own trademark sound to the track, removing the bass line and introducing a 303 beat instead, increasing both the energy and tempo of the track. The resulting track is extremely pleasing on the ear and I’m sure will be in many a Djs record box for months to come.

Final Score 4.5/5

Matilda - Protea - Exone 

Matildas recent release on Exone records consists of three tracks. Matildas own “Protea” and then two remixes of the same track by Deadbeat and one by Exone Label owner Exercise One. The original track Protea is a very pleasant sounding track with a distinctly summery feel to it, ideally suited to a warm up set.  Of the two remixes the Exercise One one is certainly the more potent, an ideal peak time dj tool. The Deadbeat remix I feel is missing something and passes by without anything particularly interesting occurring. As a whole though this is a decent EP but you would not say that its groundbreaking in anyway.

Final Score 3.5/5

10 years of Secret Sundaze 

In July Secret Sundaze will be releasing a special double mix CD to commemorate their 10^th anniversary.  In those ten years the Secret Sundaze crew have taken house and techno parties in London to a new level. With a special emphasis on open air venues, a previously unfulfilled market in London James Priestly and Giles Smiths parties have become close to legendary  certainly in London, but also in the past few years  around the world. 

Much is therefore expected of the forthcoming release and I can gladly say that it produces the goods. The first mix is done by James, who traditionally kicks things off at Secret Sundaze nights. The bar is set high on his mix as he kicks off with a groovy Mark E remix of DJ Ageishi & Ackin's  Rain Parade. The groove is maintained very nicely throughout the whole mix with the very accomplished track selection.  Standout tracks for me are  GHL - Show Me Love which appears early on in the mix, a track sure to get the crowd moving, and the last track, a disco number called “I love you Dancer” by Voyage. It caps off an excellent mix which I thoroughly enjoyed listening to.

          The second mix comes from Giles and immediately has a slightly more banging sound to it. Yet it still has that “Secret Sundaze” groove that is so apparent in James’ mix. The middle section of the mix carries the listener into slightly darker territory with two remixes from Rolando and MRSK, both renowned for their slightly tougher sound. These two tracks for me really stand out from the rest. Im also very fond of the last track by Slam Mode entitled Insulate, a great finisher to a great mix.

So all in all I highly recommend purchasing this Secret Sundaze release. It is extremely well compiled with excellent track selection and gives a real taste of what attending an actual Secret Sundaze party is like

Final Score 4.5/5

Lee Curtiss - Watergate - Watergate Records 

Lee Curtiss provides the latest addition to the Watergate mix family. Watergate has become a world famous club, mainly due to its consistently high quality bookings and also its idyllic location on the banks of the River Spree in Berlin.

Lee Curtiss, along with his other fellow countrymen Shaun Reeves, Seth Troxler, Ryan Crosson and Lee Foss to name a few, have in recent times forged a new Detroit sound which has become immensely popular. This latest release really showcases this new sound and although I personally am not such a huge fan of it, I would say with confidence that fans of the “Visionquest” sound will absolutely love this mix.

There are a couple of tracks that I really enjoy in the mix, but I feel on the whole that if I heard this out in a club it would not have me moving till the early hours. There also seems to be this annoying trend of tracks containing irritating vocals which for me spoil an otherwise good track. Although I will award this mix a low mark I do acknowledge that a lot of people will very much enjoy listening to it but it really does not push my buttons.

Final Score 2/5

Tobias - Leaning Over Backwards - Ostgut Ton 

Listening to Tobias forthcoming release on Ostgut Ton is quite a strange experience. This is mainly due to the fact that I’ve never heard anything quite like it. Tobias himself has described this album as ‘underwater techno’ and you can certainly tell why when listening to some of the tracks. If you close your eyes when listening to it, it puts you in a very strange trance. There are only three tracks on this album which you would consider to be ‘club’ tracks. These are ‘Party town’, ‘Skippy’ and ‘We Stick to the Plan’ and given the right atmosphere in a club I reckon they would do some damage. By this I mean they are quite dark and twisted sounding so would possibly not be suited to your everyday house music night. The rest of the album contains mostly these ‘underwater’ sounding tracks which I think some people would very much appreciate and others not so. I however find them quite entertaining and the album as a whole impressive. Before buying this release you should definitely listen to the whole thing through first because it is likely very different to anything you’ve heard before.

Final Score 3.5/5