fijiama.net – more f*ing house music

Abicah Soul – ASR-0029

Abicah Soul (apparently a one-man-show by DJ Stax) first came around with a self-titled EP on Wha? Roots at the time when the afro-latin sound was just becoming popular in house. The record nailed it with all the tracks on the EP. And it makes me glad to see that the Abicah Soul sound has made it to 2009 while many of his compatriots have lost their battle against you-know-what-I-mean.

His sound for me is reminiscent of Osunlade, also in the way that he’s able to fluently incorporate the techy/analogue sounds to his overwhelmingly percussive tracks. This one, “Makossa” (originally recorded by the legendary Manu Dibango, of course) is doing promotional rounds and the vinyl release is supposed to be due in May 2009. With the Culoe De Song release forthcoming on Innervisions, I’m wondering if we are seeing a little afro-house revival here…

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A: Makossa (Main Mix)
B1: Makossa (Synth 2 My Beat Mix)
B2: Makossa (Beats)

Innervisions – IV 16

There’s one obvious choice for you. The Laurent Garnier record has already received enough buzz without me adding to it. However, I have decided to ignore this fact and talk about it anyway. Sue me.

So the story is that Dixon was playing with Laurent Garnier at Panorama Bar and suddenly the man with the red face dropped a track that we now know as “Back To My Roots”. Dixon immediately proposed signing it to Innervisions. “Panoramix” was apparently (see Dixon interview) made the weekend right after they had signed “Back To My Roots”. You could say the man is on a row, considering the number of records he has put out in the recent years (hint: not many).

“Back To My Roots” is sort of a tribalish epic production. What amused me was Dixon’s comment on a message board (Faith Fanzine, I believe it was) about the track being shit for the first 8 minutes. Hell, that’s about as long as your regular track gets. Anyway, if you listen to the track, you can probably see what he meant. If “Back To My Roots” could have just as easily been produced 10 years ago (and that’s a good quality, by the way), “Panoramix” is the more contemporary piece of music on this EP. When I first heard it, I presumed it to be a remix of Sebo K’s “Horizons” and later learned I wasn’t the only one to make that connection. However, it’s also got a clear touch of “The Man With The Red Face”, for nostalgic purposes.

For me, it’s another rock solid Innervisions installment.

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A: Back To My Roots (original Afrodiziac mix)
B: Panoramix

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Sonar Kollektiv – SK170CD

This little gem is something for you to start your weekend with – a perfectly orchestrated version of the nu-trance anthem that whisked Âme and the Innervisions gang up into hype heaven. Pizzicato strings take over the melody that all the office geeks with bags under their eyes were whistling in 2007 after living out their rave dreams over the weekend. The drummer probably had to have his arms amputated after all the hardcore cymbal action. Any more drama and we’d be watching “The Bold & The Beautiful”. I dare you to play it out in a club (let me know what happened).

Sonar Kollektiv Orchestra is a band (or actually much more than a band) made up of label artists and friends. On the album you will find Sonar Kollektiv anthems from the past and the present.

By the way, Âme is a French word, so pronounce it like one.

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Buy/Listen at Sonar Kollektiv website

Traum – TRAUM V95

You may want to challenge me on my opinion, but 2008 has started out pretty slow. There haven’t really been any releases that I would be excited about, however this one gets quite close. True, it’s a little too much Innervisions. Still, the drum programming is great on “Sceada” (my favorite of the two, if I need to pick), and both tracks have the intrigue that most of the Ame copycats lack. Beatport release info even describes “Mantikor” as giving you the feeling of “dancing on a volcano”. I wouldn’t know anything about that, but kudos to whoever wrote the review – with this kind of imagination, who needs drugs anyway.

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A: Sceada
B: Mantikor

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Forced Sense – FS 020

Martin Heyder is a 32-year old producer from Germany, who hasn’t really caught my attention so far. With this one, he certainly does. „Mind-Frames” is a haunting piece of deep house, most likely to fit into the sets of the Innervisions crew. „Polyphonics” is slightly darker and more on the techno side, however as melodic as the A-side. I can only wonder why I haven’t seen these tracks in any DJ charts yet. I will be watching carefully for Martin’s following releases. Out on Forced Sense.

A: Mind-Frames
B: Polyphonics

myspace.com/martinheyder
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