12"

The latest transmission from Rush Hour's ever adventurous No 'Label' series comes from an artist known simply as X, with "Lessons from a Spiritual Dimension....." etched on the run out groove for those seeking some guidance. Word on the grapevine is these four cuts are the work of a certain shy and retiring producer with distinctively peppery hair but these rumours have not been confirmed. Certainly the playful 90s rnb sampled wedged deep into the core DNA of the loving drift of the second track here is most reminiscent of one of LIES lesser spotted artists. Elsewhere "Track 3" sounds thrillingly like 3 different house cuts being played over one another whilst the closing track delves into more abstract territory and is reminiscent of a recovered field recording made deep into the night at Chicago institution Muzic Box.

It is safe to say PPU boss Andrew Morgan is a fan of Atlanta-based producer Rekchampa, with this limited test pressing edition of his Dream Sequence album arriving the same week as the killer Fried Chicken Skin 12". After a few days rotation on the Juno office stereo, we're the latest converts to the Rekchampa cause! First surfacing on our radar via a NDATL 12" in late 2014, Stefan Ringer has been popping up in a few interesting places ever since; sharing sides with Eliphino on A Love Below 12", appearing under the Black Suede name on the CGI label. This album finds PPU compiling Rekchampa cuts that first appeared on a Harsh Riddims cassette in 2014, complemented by a few bonus cuts from the Ringer studio. These six tracks brandish a style of vocal, soulful house comparable to Moodymann, Peven Everett and Seven Davis Jr but Rekchampa definitely has his own rough-edged vibe going on.

Andrew Morgan's Peoples Potential Unlimited label may well have been founded to document the lost and forgotten funk, disco and boogie that peppered the DIY and private press labels of 1980s USA, but their contemporary releases are just as good. See 12"s from the likes of Legowelt, Beautiful Swimmers and Pender Street Steppers for evidence. Fried Chicken Skin adds to this small but deadly canon of contemporary PPU releases, presenting one of two records on the label from Stefan "Rekchampa" Ringer, a Stockbridge, Atlanta-based producer who got his break in late 2014 thanks to Kai Alce's NDATL label. "Fried Chicken Skin" is a bumping, rough US house delight replete with ad-libbing vocals from Ringer himself, whilst "Ride" sees him collaborate with Personal Trainer for a more reduced, deeper cut that will appeal to Sound Signature fans.

BACK IN STOCK !!!Official re-release of this 'lost' 6-track mini album by New Yorker Ben Cenac (of Newcleus fame). Recorded and released in 1990 and is an absolute gem of a record - very much in the vein of Larry Heard's best recordings. MASSIVE TIP!Electronic soul classic! Now available again for the first time in 22 years, remastered + full artwork. 'A truly, dreamy, beautiful classic deep-house mini-album from the golden-post-Larry Heard era. New-yorker Ben Cenac, who was also member of electro pioneers Newcleus (and part of Sha-lor, who had a cool jazzy garage-house hit in the late 80's), shows a great sensibility and delicacy here in following mr Heard's path.His approach is perhaps slightly more sci-fi in the synths and pad sounds, and perhaps a tad less crafted and mercurial in production than the master (i.e. less timeless), but this adds in realness and charm.So, past the classic deep-garage dream "My Love Turns To Liquid" (in the vein of these sultry garage productions from Peter and Vanessa Daou), the rest of the record shows constant quality, with song titles that could have been (or actually have been) used by Mr. Heard himself, and a content oscillating between warming deep-house, sweet acid, lush garage and relaxed spacejazz piano parts, the whole thing also evoking the Beloved's better 'rave' moments ("The Sun Rising" etc).This record could be studied in university as the synthesis of the deep-house scene of the early 1990s. Classic.' (Review by Restless, taken from Discogs).

BACK IN STOCK !!!A rough, rugged and raw set of Boyd Jarvis productions finally receive their first official airing on Echovolt. Legendary Colonel Abrams's vocal lines power through Yamaha CS-15 workouts with sprinkles of dub atop bounding drum-box workouts. This fourth release in Echovolt growing re-issue catalog includes the bass heavy, passionate thumper "You Got Me Running", the much feted first draft of "Release the Tension", which only ever saw press as an alternate production - with different vocals - by a band named Circuit. And the previously unreleased, Peach Boys-esque, downtempo, surreal soul jam Celebrate as the cherry on top! All tracks written by Boyd in Timmy Regisfords bedroom studio and recorded straight to cassette tape in the mid eighties.

Parisian label Escapade launches with a four-track 12″ by Yuri Shulgin. The Russian artist first appeared in 2010 under the Mistanomista moniker on the Italian label Black Sunshine. He later released three records under his real name, first on Anton Zap’s Ethereal Sound, then on Black Wall and finally on Modernista. Yuri’s productions mix jazzy and funky vibes with electronic elements, which inevitably calls to mind the classic Detroit house sound. They have a warm and authentic feeling to them, thanks to his bass, guitar and keys abilities. Poducers such as Vakula have relied on his instrumentalist skills, but on Polyphonic Mind it is his turn to call on other musicians. ‘Nothing In The City’ features his friend Yuri Smirnov on the alto saxophone and kicks off this release on a laid back groove, which becomes more energetic in the second half of the track. Trumpet player Victor Netesov a.k.a. Humsafar joins them on ‘Polyphonic Mind’ for a full jazzy session. On the B side, Shulgin reveals his experimental facet with two jams using synths and delays. ‘Livetrackrecording (Dubby)’ leans into hypnotic territory while ‘#1stereo (Analog Jam)’ rounds up the record with dreamy explorations.