Friday, October 01, 2004

Surloin - only the best cuts served up here
Its been a while so I thought I best bring you up to speed on the fresh cuts that have undergone heavy rotation at Chez Ged. Overall the summer had been quiet for quality house tunes, I had been fortunate to pick up Soha - seas and sirens, but this was the exception that proved the rule. Things have picked up over the past few weeks and here is the latest purchases.
  • WAR - Galaxy (re-edit) Ballroom Records War's Galaxy has been re-edited to make it more DJ and dance floor friendly without taking out the quality
  • Ananda Project - Kiss Kiss Kiss (pt II) Nitegrooves Some nice mixes on this from a renowned US deep house label
  • Pixel - Do you miss me? Counterpoint Simple no nonsense sound with a hint of acid
  • Bambu - Elevate your mind Bitches Brew Classy cover version of a 70's soul/disco classic
  • Roy Davis Jr - Chicago Forever Ubiquity Records Pure class, from the cover style as a homage to the mighty Blue Note sleeves through to some quality house served up on nicely pressed vinyl. Things do get better than this, but not often.
  • JoVonn - Nite shift EP Nextmoon Trax I had been after this one for over a month, when it first came into London in August it was as rare as rocking horse excrement. Quality deep house
It makes sense to deal with these two together Abe and Blake Baxter have worked together, Abe acting as engineer on Baxter's record and Blake adding guest vocals on the Abe cut. Both are high class house trax with stylish acid overtones. Baxter along with Jamie Principle and Robert Owens is one of the defining vocalists of Chicago house.
  • Blake Baxter - Poetry and rhythm session two Detroit The Sound Republic
  • Abe Duque - What happened? Abe Duque Records
Old School
I went down to see a new meeja agency in Camden and had a few minutes to spare so nipped into Flashback Records on Essex Road. There I picked up:
  • Smells Like Heaven - Rhythms des Londres Cowboy Records I have been a sucker for Cowboy Records stuff and liked the diversity of the label from Steve Wonder cover versions like Secret Life 'As Always' to progressive house classics like The Aloof 'On a mission'. Rhythms des Londres are better known for their London Strut track on Deconstruction.
  • Unique 3 - The Theme Ten Records Back to 89 with this bleep classic (whistle posse make some noise!), my copy was looking tatty, when I came across this tidy picture sleeve with old school grafitti signage. The illustrations of the band on the bottom however makes them look like a bunch of Boys Town Gang / Village People wannabes rather than working class rave pioneers from Bradford very funny.