Articles
Death Blues
Questionnaire II

Albums
36
Daniel Bachman
Blevin Blectum
Ulises Conti
Ian William Craig
Dakota Suite & Sirjacq
Death Blues
Yair Etziony
Fade
Hammock
Imagho & Mocke
Kassel Jaeger
John Kannenberg
Martin Kay
Kein
Kontakt der Jünglinge
Akira Kosemura
Land Observations
Klara Lewis
Oliver Lieb
Lightfoils
Machinefabriek
Nikkfurie of La Caution
Pitre and Allen
Pjusk
Michael Robinson
Sawako
Seasurfer
Slow Dancing Society
Tender Games
Tirey / Weathers
Tohpati
Tokyo Prose
The Void Of Expansion
wild Up
Yodok III
Russ Young

Compilations / Mixes
Dessous Sum. Grooves 2
Silence Was Warm Vol. 5
Under The Influence Vol. 4

EPs / Cassettes / Mini-Albums / Singles
Belle Arché Lou
Blind EP3
Blocks and Escher
Dabs
DBR UK
Fracture
Sunny Graves
Ligovskoï
Mako
Paradox & Nucleus
Pye Corner Audio
Sawa & Kondo
Slpwlkr
Swoon
Toys in The Well
Versa
Marshall Watson

VA: Dessous Summer Grooves 2
Dessous Recordings

In which Steve Bug's Dessous Recordings makes good on the titular promise of its second collection of grooving tunes. No new ground is broken in the release's fifteen tracks, but game-changing isn't the intent; instead, the 107-minute set satisfies its more modest goal of serving up summery jams tailor-made for sunny afternoons and sweltering nights. Appropriately, the emphasis is less on chilly techno than on deep and soulful house cuts, and the best tracks are the Balearic-flavoured ones as they most complement the humid outdoors vibe. All are granted ample room to strut their stuff, too, with the average cut clocking in it seven minutes and the longest, a sultry Axel Boman remix of Vincenzo & Language's “Merry Go Round,” creeping up on ten.

Though the release starts on a somewhat surprisingly laid-back note with Walking Shadow's “When It Hurts,” it doesn't take long for the big guns to come out. Kyodai's rerub of Echonomist's “Keys to Life” (featuring G-Tech) serves up a thunderously hard-grooving and bass-hungry shuffler spiced with a spacey voiceover. Soul Minority's mix of Jamie Anderson & Owain K's “Do You Know” is rendered memorable by a voiceover of its own: a laundry list of names cited in question form—“Anyone know who Billy Strayhorn was?... Anyone know who Stan Getz is?...,” etc. In “Gilmore Hereux,”Alex Blaxx resourcefully exploits a modest number of elements—a breathy voice sample, acoustic piano, and dive-bombing synth effect—to maximum advantage, while deliciously grooving bass pulses elevate the sexy swing of Andy Ash's floor-filler “Mindflow” and Andrade's delirious “Internal Affairs.”

Even slightly left turns, such as Burnski's and Morgan Geist's respective makeovers of Phonique's “For The Time Being” and “Casualities” (both featuring Erlend Øye vocals), still groove, and consequently Dessous Summer Grooves 2 deviates little from its core concept. Put simply, the comp's summery tunes would work equally well booming forth from an outdoors festival stage or out of one's backyard patio speakers.

August-September 2014