Saturday 21 August 2010

Some albums, part one

Been sent a few albums lately that I've kept meaning to blog about but not seemed to be able to find the time, so I'm gonna whizz through them today. They're all out already but not for too long, so, first up…

The Rurals
Special Edition (Digipeng)
Oh yes. Special Edition sees Andy Compton and friends making a very welcome return to the dancefloor, leaving the noodles and the oh-so-soulful vocals at the door and instead treating us to 11 tracks of deep, disco-infused house music designed to make you move your body.Particular faves for me are Meatless Paste with its "the deepest bass" vocal refrain (so I'm guessing it's been named inna 'excuse me while I kiss this guy' misheard lyric stylee), and the bumpin', disco-fuelled (and also sillily-titled) Kiss The Musical Bear. Don't sleep on this one as I nearly did, peeps – this is the best thing to come out of Peng HQ in ages!

Roxy 'Arms' Harris
Arms House
This is one more for the bruk beat/UK funky crew, but it's good. Roxy Harris is one-half of Ear Dis, whose Welcome To Floorboogie album a year or two back didn't get anything like the attention it deserved; let's hope this one fares a little better. I described that album at the time as "broken beat that hasn't got its head up its arse"; much of this one you could maybe call "UK funky that isn't just some nasal Sarf London girl whining over third-hand DJ Gregory drum loops". Marrying impressive musicality to lashings of rumbling low-end, and featuring a number of guest vocalists including the ubiquitous Vula, Arms House is well worth checking.

Puromusic presents Monodeluxe
Soul Glamour (Seamless)
This has actually been out for QUITE a while but I'm gonna include it today cos it's ace. We're back to deep house with this one, but where the Rurals album operates strictly in dancefloor territory, this one comes from that place where deep house, nu-jazz and lounge/chill-out collide, making it perfect for comedown sessions or those lazy Sunday afternoons. Monodeluxe is actually one Alessandro Oliviero, who's previously worked with everyone from Michelle Weeks and Michael Watford, to Jazzanova, LTJ Bukem and Norman Jay. Smooooth…

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