Cerca:def friends

Hi5 is the latest prank from A Different Jimi, aka Jimi Siebels. It's is a bitchy chicago house smasher in a surprisingly refreshing kinship to New York's hard bop of the 1960s, without ever being in danger of becoming acid jazz. Because in order to create his own definition of jazz-infected-house, Jimi makes no use of already overstrained rare groove samples, but a classic range of instruments and musical friends who he invites to recording sessions in his studio. So we hear RVDS (It's / smallville) at the piano, Hayo Doin (Die Boys / Deichkind) on drums and last but not least DJ Björnski (dérive) on guitar. And yet everything comes together to be pushing electronic music. Hi5 is like the joy of a child over a bucket of water on a hot summer day. And after the refreshment the B side reveals a deep disco pearl in brilliance, plain beauty and a warm, vespertine elegance, that has been created due to the cooperation between a different Jimi and Björnski, the dérive label tycoon himself. 'Hi 5 & Sweet Fancy Moses' is a vinyl-become-south-sea-island in an ocean of tears of joy.

SHADELEAF reaches out to the tribes and comes home with a serious crop to see us through !

For their debut V.A selection 'Please Come Correct' Thatmanmonkz has pulled in some serious talent from the fringes of forward-thinking House

Ny*Ak fires the opening beatdown salvo,'U Don't Understand', and cooks up another of those loose, low riding, sample heavy and heady jams, reminiscent of Berlin via early Sound Signature that made last year's EP for Intimate Friends via Rush Hour such an essential!

Next up Cape Town's Jumping Back Slash, who's been making some serious music, fusing elements of S.A House with Kwaito and, well pretty much anything else he can throw into the mix to move your assets.
'Bloodlines' however could just as easily have emanated from 8 Mile, a captivating piece of pure, crisply rendered machine soul back lit with township chants and emotive chords.

Mr 'monkz himself handles B1, and to say this guy's on a roll would be something of an understatement!
Much like Graef and Co, 'imgettintiredofyou' is Deep House that dines out on a diet of Hip Hop, dirty hertz in the low registers and deftly manipulated sample work throughout - killer stuff!

Finally our truly global selection winds up in Moscow as another hotly tipped up-and-comer Lay-Far gives us 'Many-Sided'.
Fans of last year's excellent EP on Fifty Fathoms Deep will know what to expect. Again, a loosely pieced together cut, hinting at West London vibes,and shot through with creative sampling and an undeniable ear for melody and groove that really shines.

Cadenza head honcho, Luciano, often collaborates with many other artists, his constant touring schedule blessing him the opportunity to write and produce music with a multitude of like minded producers, and on 'Into The Aether", we get the first part of a two part series of tracks composed with various other Cadenza personnel. 'Arizona Green Song' sees Luciano and Marlowe (AKA Digitaline) get together for a vibrant and busy freak out. A plethora of rattling and sharp percussion cuts through a simple melody line and low slung groove. Building over ten tantric minutes, dubby inflections and hidden voices are woven into the detailed arrangement to great effect. A collaboration with Dani Casarano results in 'Bell's & Tonic", a slower paced vibe here, but with plenty of funk, from it's bending bass line and hand claps to the deft organ touches and shuffling shakers. A world within is created here, again distant voices, rattling cow bells and (yes) livestock and other field recordings are layered here to create a unique ambience. Uncompromising and original music then, from Cadenza's boss and friends. Expect a 'Part Two' to be released in the coming months....

With Contemplative Figuration we see Broshuda pushing his amorphous, impossible-to-pin-down music in exciting new directions. Stitched together in various European cities over the last few years, it is the artist’s most dynamic and ambitious release thus far, drawing equally from musique concrete, beat research, ambient, tape collage, and spoken word. Episodic in nature, the collection functions well as a sort of impressionistic travelogue, with romantic, hazy atmospheres coaxed from borrowed equipment, serendipitous recording sessions with old friends, and even a drum sequence programmed with Mario Paint, among other curios and sleights of hand. Broshuda deftly wrings bonafide cohesion and balance from these disparate source materials, tools, and locations, as on opener “Kakigori,” which allows a snaking harmonic drone the space to evolve before exploding it into a sort of seething, dubbed out pointillism. Later, “Lied Für Hase” concocts a potent, humid atmosphere of beautifully evolving acoustic piano loops and elegant narration. Taken as a whole, Contemplative Figuration is a weightless, transportive record, one that is bursting at the seams with ideas, mischief, and a restless spirit.

Mastered by Helmut Erler at D&M, Artwork by Alex McCullough and Niall Wynne Lewis.