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Armando - Overload - 04-Apr-07 05:31 AM
'Dance with Me' Makes the EP worth having:

This has been an all time fave of mine from Armando. The Sylvester sample (from the closing moments of the original 'Dance(Disco Heat)') in 'Dance With Me' just rivited the track into the powerful groove that it conjurs.

It is pure minimalism - simple drum patterns, a gifted bit of sampling looped over it, results in a chunk of disco funk being mutated into Chicago House.

The rest of the tracks are OK - not much to comment on - they just don't have the same magic.

Incidentally, Theo Parrish later worked with the same loop in his Ugly Edits 3 - 'Got a Match' - and so another legendary innovator of house adds to the longevity of the Sylvester original.

Omar-S - 12-Mar-07 03:45 PM
I can't help it but I like him!

It is something like those weird days when I first heard the punchy Robert Armani sounds, or finally got my head around something like Silver Apples. Omar-S' music can be plain odd, soulful, jerky, badly-goodly-giftedly-intentionally produced, makes you curiously bored, or nervously happy and funked out to the max - Diverse. Odd artwork on his releases ranges from handwritten white labels to pixellated computer games or quirky quotes from 'insidehishead'.

His collaboration with Shadow Ray (who is this person?) to make up 'Oasis Collaborating' (nothing to do with Manchester UK!) demonstrates a new diversity and rhythm that is refreshing and challenging to listen to, or catalyses a 'need to dance' urge.

Checking out his mixes (a few listed here on CD-r) further proves his musicality, his talent and where his influences stem from - Chicago jack, minimal DEtroit, experimental dubby sounds and thick soulful numbers (..I know I'm only just touching on this). Undoubtedly a relation of the '3 Chairs' movement: unafraid of expressing their emotions and interpretations of sound, whilst rocking your body and mind.

What an eccentric conundrum - and I am sure he's a proper underground legend at work. I think it is his musical honesty that cuts it in the end - it is where its at, and where it should be.

Parris Mitchell - Life In The Underground - 09-Mar-07 03:43 PM
This double pack oozes what Dance Mania Records could pull out when it was having a good day. They had become more popular in Europe at the time (not to say that the producers were necessarily making music for us Europeans though), with the stream of releases, there could be a real quality issue with some of the production or even pressing.

'Work it!' is the most obvious and hitting track initially, beginning with a collage of ghetto/bump/booty samples that set the pace and scene. Simple heavy basslines and demanding fast repeat 'WORK IT!' samples follow to create dancefloor mayhem.

The whole package however is full of minimal chicago treasures - 'Computer' remix is heavy on the groove, excellent and sparse. Perhaps the jazzy sample tracks don't stand the test of time, they were more the flavour of the moment. The rest is timeless and proud - where minimalism meets the bumping and grinding disco booty!

Dark Comedy - Funkfaker: Music Saves My Soul - 09-Mar-07 03:43 PM
Kenny Larkin's alter ego Dark Comedy seems to stem from his other love - performing as a comedian. When my brother told me about this I thought he was proper lying, but yes, on Mr Larkins myspace you'll find out more.

The album plays heavily on his sense of humour - the comical 'why did the chicken cross the road', the 'tellin lies' sub vocal contradicting the main theme, the funny 'baby blues' high pitched voice. This is foiled with seriously themed tracks like 'In my house' describing the time he was shot.

The album is a brilliant display of production and musical talent, the dark comedy synth sounds are just unique, the blues influence twisted into the heart of the tracks. I think Mr Larkin put his soul into it.

Steve Poindexter - The Remixes - 09-Mar-07 11:39 AM
D-Jax Records and the woman behind the label - Miss D-Jax, did a lot to promote important Chicago producers in Europe in the early 90's. Some might say D-Jax tried to take too much credit for their involvement, however this EP is a brilliant balance in combining the talent of the best of European remixing talent at the time and original Chicago productions.

Like a Tim's mix is a cracker - I almost like it as much as I do the original. His interpretation maintains a minimal dirty funk that so suits Pointdexter's original and at the same time has Tim expressing his own unique sound. The simple acid track on B2 (Born to Freak) is another gluttoral, hypnotic, warbling masterpiece that makes this EP well worth owning.

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