Featuring RICK WADE

Chi-house legend and Harmonie Park founder Rick Wade makes his debut on Leeds’ very own Fina Records with the ‘Sweet Life’ EP. The EP brings Wade’s characteristically sunny, disco-tinged sound across three new cuts, backed with a Mr. Beatnick remix and a collaborative rework from Tom Taylor and Simon Morell.

The EP opens with ‘Sweet Life’, where sweeping violin melodies play out alongside acoustic guitar licks. Everything here is kept organic and natural and there’s a genuine sense of warmth to be discovered - a great way to open proceedings that Don’t Be Afraid contributor Mr. Beatnick contradicts slightly with his remix. In this treatment, ‘Sweet Life’ is primed more readily for the dance floor, with a heavier drum-track pushing through and echoes of a dubby synthline that creeps subtly to the surface.

Sweet Life (Mr. Beatnick Remix) - Rick Wade [FINA]


The flip side begins with another new and original Wade cut, ‘The Chateau’. The title of this particular track seems rather fitting; there’s a looping Afro-French vocal that carries its way over those by-now familiarly lazy drum patterns. This one’s got a massively summertime feel to it and it's easy to conjure up images of the hypothetical Chateau Wade makes mention of in the title, nestled somewhere on the Côte d'Azur, with the sun beating fiercely on its roof and the cool sea breeze blowing gently through its windows. Many elements of this track seem reminiscent of classic French house - think old Pepe Bradock, I:Cube or Trankilou.



Wade’s final offering on the EP is ‘Jazz Militia’, a track that switches the formula a little by brining a harder, more driven track that’s the most heavily dancefloor-centred tune on the record. Though the drums kick out with more ferocity and urgency than before, the tune isn’t without any of the analogue warmth and goodness found in both ‘Sweet Life’ and ‘The Chateau.’ It’s just that now Wade is determined to get feet shuffling, gently upping the tempo a notch.

Sweet Life EP - Rick Wade [FINA]


Finishing off the EP, and found only on the digital release, is a remix from label co-founder Simon Morell and Tom Taylor. The dubby twanging chords of the Mr Beatnick remix seem to make a return here; filters are put into good effect all over the place, whilst the percussion elements shuffle slightly more urgently around the track to give the version a more-uptempo feel.

'Sweet Life' EP is out very soon both digitally and on 12". You can grab the latter at Juno.

Featuring DELSIN RECORDS

Delsin wrap up their centenary EP series with a fifth selection of cuts from BNJM, Delta Funktionen, Herva, Bleak and John Beltran.

BNJM's opener operates solely as a prelude, a delicate snippet of ambience that builds towards Delta Funktionen's 'Petrol'. This one's a heavy, bristling affair with a heady kick thudding between metallic percussion and space-age synth drones. It's the sort of industrial, electro-soaked techno that Delsin do so well, so it makes complete sense for it to feature within a celebratory series of releases that aims to encapsulate the dutch imprint's particular and specific vibe.




Herva's 'Radio's Mutterings' keeps proceedings deep - the feeling amongst all the tracks on this release is as much underwater as it is underground. A sonar bassline crawls through the depths whilst rippling melody echoes around it, soaking in reverb.

Following from that, one of Sweden's finest, Bleak, takes the buttons with 'Keep Me Close'. This one's driving and direct, with a elastic, tungsten-coated melody that loops across the duration, rising and dipping amongst frenetic drum-sounds and isolated vocal stabs. (Check out HH Mix #032 from the man himself.)



Finishing the release is John Beltran, who presents 'Return to Nightfall'. Harmonic pads sound out into the murky nothingness whilst hi-hats jostle amongst a thick, padded kick.

100DSR/VAR5 - V/A [Delsin]


a1. BNJMN - Dive
a2. Delta Funktionen - Petrol
a3. Herva - Radio's Mutterings
b1. Bleak - Keep Me Close
b2. John Beltran - Return To Nightfall

100DSR/VAR5 rounds off Delsin's 100th release celebrations and is available later this month on 12" at all good record shops. Additionally, the label have released an unmixed 2xCD to cap the 100DSR series, available at Juno.

Featuring MIDLAND

If you were to ask me what I considered the most important record of 2013, it would be Midland's 'Trace'. If you were to ask me what song would be least likely to get a good remix, I would probably say the same thing. For the latter, I was gladly proved wrong. Almost a year after the original AUS Music is set to release the 'Trace Remixes EP', a timely reflection on how far the label has come in recent years.

Listening to these remixes, it's hard to imagine another way in which they could have been tackled. Using just the basic skeleton of 'Trace', Grain (aka Artwork) - known back in the day for his tribal techno - takes the most intricate elements that formed the original and proceeds to chop and twist them around a faster, yet subtle beat. The track follows a similar structure to the original, however this time Grain wishes only to tease the vocals. A departure from Midland's distinctive production, Grain chooses to have the instrumentation blend in and out from start to finish. The pay-off being a new build up of sliced synths resonating around a warehouse atmosphere.

De-constructing the original, Leon Vynehall's take on the B-side 'For (Yacht) Club Use Only' follows on from the rough and ready style seen on his previous AUS release. The rigid hi-hats from Midland's original have been shuffled around to create a loose and moody sound-scape and the warm synths have been manipulated to create a slight unease before melting back into the beat.

[AUS1456] will be released on 10th February 2014 via Juno.

Words by: Stephen Daniels

Featuring IKE YARD

The works of the early 1980s American post-punk/industrial outfit Ike Yard have become remix fodder for newer artists who create similarly harsh, post-punk influenced techno. The third instalment of remixes is a welcome addition to the genre, with previous entries from Regis, Monoton, Tropic Of Cancer and Arnaud Rebotini.

Powell's opening remix of Half A God takes apart the very straightforward original and reassembles it into something that sounds like it may fall apart at any minute. The drums are shuffled and gated, the synth stabs and guitar loops are fractured, the vocals are sparse. Bandshell's remix of NCR turns it into noise-techno, everything becomes distorted, with added radio scanner hiss panning around the mix. At one point everything else fades out leaving just the hiss, which fades out to almost silence before everything rushes back in, jolting the listener.

The original 1982 version of 'Cherish 8', from their debut on Factory America, is a throughly unnerving post-punk piece, with a military drum groove, out of tune synths and vocalist Stuart Argabright commandingly repeating his perverted intentions without passion ("I watch where you go, then I follow you home...you're so young, you're so chic"). The KVB's version retains much of the original vibe, with the drums now more restrained and distant, with the occasional firing-off of rapid 808 claps. The synths are more orchestral, the guitars looped quietly, more as part of a bed of sound and less highlighted in the mix. Vessel's remix however, takes the track to an even darker place. The vocals become growled and menacing through the flanger, the drums burst through with ferocity and retreat immediately into silence, and added feedback pierces through.

Cherish 8 (The KVB Remix) - Ike Yard [Desire]


[DSR100] is available from Desire and Juno. Limited to 300 copies.

Words by: Jason Rule