Music Spiel Reviews with Rob Warner - January 08

Rob's Music Spiel - New reviews for Jan 2008

It's bombs away for 2008 as house maestro Milton Jackson returns with his latest Urbantorque release alongside Sei A, as does Valentino Kanzyani and Marko Nastic with a more minimal number on he new WOW! Records label. Tribal and progressive make a renewed showing with Keith Blackstone, R.O.R. Collective and Sancho & E-Lation. Read on...

Milton Jackson & Sei A – Jinzou (Urbantorque)
After a cracker year in 2007 Milton Jackson returns with Sei A with a more low-key track in that hazy in-between style Jackson is known for. It's full of mellow chords, blips and subtle transitions between deep house and tech-house – you could call it future garage – classic but futuristic. Scope add a twisted bass-heavy re-edit with raw Detroit influences as well as a full remix which is a heavier version for the floor. Manuel Tur adds the final mix which has a soulful house touch with an old-school piano line and epic break. Cracker record! myspace.com/miltonjackson06

Keith Blackstone- Enhancer/Yube (Fatal Music)
Fatal Music kick the walls down with their usual subtlety of tribal rhythms and big-room fx. The original of Enhancer is a dark and jacking pure NYC house track full of sinister synth stabs and pitched down, drugged-up vocals. Jaimy's remix is tribal to the bone with a breakdown to tweak out even the most sober person in the. 'Yube' is a more minimalistic number with a low sub bass to rumble the speakers overtop of the snappy groove and spoken vocals. A few small change-ups throughout the track and a funky old-school stabbing synth give this tune an infectious hook. myspace.com/keithblackstone

R.O.R. Collective - Scarface (Slanted Black)
If percussive, syncopated rhythms are your thing then you can't go past the label which is fast becoming a tribal house institution. Scarface is a track with a tribal groove which gets more and more intense as the track goes on. In fitting with its namesake the track uses elements of the theme music from Scarface. You'd think this would make for another movie-sampling cheese-fest but you'd be wrong. R.O.R Collective weave it into the groove and arrangement subtly and without overdoing it one bit. Find yourself a dark room with a large sound system and this will shred. myspace.com/rorcollective

Sancho & E-Lation - I Want Your Soul (Pure Substance)
The original of 'I Want Your Soul' is straight up big-room synthy prog with a great energy and nice arrangement full of little drops and direction changes. Sancho does his own mix – a straight-up clubby version with a bouncing party groove and looped/cut up vocals. Aber's Soulhunter remix is more laid-back and melodic and has Nick Warren written all over it with subtle synths and deep rolling bass sitting underneath a stabbed melody. Starlab add an in-your-face mix in the form of a glitchy breakbeat remix full of distortion and endlessly edited segments to create a pretty intense mood. www.myspace.com/sanchoandelation

Valentino Kanzyani & Marko Nastic - Twisted Movement (WOW! Records)
Twisted Movement shows the more restrained side of Kanzyani and Umek with a simple, chipper groove using their usual flawless production skills. With little more than a percussion kit and some nicely tunes FX they produce a groove which most can only hope to achieve. Add some muted saxophone-esque sequences and the result is as twisted as the track's name implies. 'Unexpected Cure' is a more dance floor track with a house groove and solid, almost Kerri Chander style, keys and bass. Nicely delayed snippets and quirky steel drum rolls round this off as a useful tune to have in the crate. myspace.com/djmarkonastic