Few people are onto great records as quickly as a great record store.
After years spent discovering gems in Phonica’s end of year lists, it made sense to give them a regular space on FACT. Every Saturday, staff from the Soho institution will pick out the five vinyl records you should grab this week.
THEO PARRISH
American Intelligence 3xLP
(Sound Signature)
Not exactly a bargain, but with Christmas around the corner it seems only right to recommend this mighty monster of a release from Detroit prince Theo Parrish, a hypnotic odyssey of extended analogue workouts infused with the deepest soul, jazz and funk, and luxuriously spread over three slabs of vinyl.
PHOTONZ
‘Osiris Resurrected (Palms Trax Remix)’ 12″
(Hot Haus Records)
The latest 12″ from DJ Haus’s ever-reliable imprint leads with a surprisingly subtle and sultry “Egyptian banger” from Lisbon-via-London producer Photonz, which gets tarted up on the flip by newcomer Palms Trax and his wagonload of vintage breaks.
APIENTO & CO
‘E.S.P/The Light Machine’ 12″
(Golf Channel Recordings)
Test Pressing blogger Paul Byrne teams up with former Sade pianist Andrew Hale for some winter sunshine across two throbbing, acid-tinged slices of midtempo Balearica, with a bonus remix from Swiss DJ Lexx, who adds a bit of club-focused horsepower to the lead track. Real sexy, great artwork.
MAX D/HASHMAN DEEJAY
‘Shoegaze/Samba’ 12″
(Falstaff)
Mood Hut rep Hashman Deejay and Future Times boss Maxmillion Dunbar have rustled up a split release to inaugurate the Falstaff label in style. Max D offers a curious club track that pairs the urgent rhythms of ghetto-tech with deep and dreamy chords to wondrous effect, while Hashman’s ‘Samba’ feels equally rarefied but with a looser, hands-in-pockets swagger.
DELANO SMITH
Cascade 2xLP
(Sushitech)
Chicago-born, Detroit-raised house lifer Delano Smith has released two albums on Sushitech in the past couple of years, and here five producers piece together their ‘interpretations’ (not remixes, apparently) of some of those tracks: energetic techno from Marcel Dettmann, minimal strictness from Makam and Steve O’Sullivan, a dub mood from Oracy and a delirious ambient creation from Convextion.
