I absolutely love this record. 'Chicago' is a perfect name for this album which – if needed – is probably best categorized into Deep House. Listening to the album shows, that the name clearly isn't a reference to Chicago House music, but rather to 60s & 70s Jazz, to some big city American sound, the House music of Detroit and New York... Sun Ra was an inspiration according to the Line*In Interview and this definitely shines through beautifully. It reminds me of the tremendous 'Stockwell Steppas' album released by the Two Lone Swordsmen in 1997 (one of my all time favourites) and Jackmate's 'Prodigal Son' (2003), but more than that, the album shines on its own as a whole, especially from the live instrumentation and the deep old school bass sound.




Artist: Efdemin, Album: Chicago, Track: Le Grand Voyage, Label: Dial , Catalog #: Dial LP 21

Get the excellent Line*In interview podcast here
with a cool Jazzy DJ mix by Efdemin on top!
And the (german) article in DE:BUG form August 2010
Get the album from bleep.com

I'm a happy man because every other week I get touched by a tune or a record so deep my soul jumps with joy. This one here is one such beauty: "Play the Game" by MIDLAND, an artist I besiege you to buy every release you see his name on without hesitation. Deep, House, Dubstep, Breakbeat in a Detroit vibe. I'm screaming out loud - this is absolutely essential!

Prelisten & Info: soundcloud.com/phonicarecords
Visit Midland: myspace.com/midlanduk

Often too late for "new releases", often too busy for playlists or annual best -lists, I'm introducing this format: Essential Music - the best in music I've come across recently or that's inside my head for whatever reason - in no particular order or genre. Please SUPPORT THE ARTISTS and BUY their music.

If you missed this outstanding album last year, please buy it now. Everyone should own a copy :)
Full of deep bass, strange beats, spheric melodies. Cinematic Electronica. A beauty

A marvellous Jazz record produced by Madlib with classy artwork. Heavily influenced by late 60s, early 70s Jazz, some groovy and more experimental tracks... just great! A beautiful product and wonderful noise coming from the house of Stones Throw! Available exclusively from the label's website until worldwide release in April 2010.

Young Jazz Rebels 'Slave Riot' 18 Tracks produced by Madlib. CD: Thick cardboard, tip-on, gatefold, and inner sleeve. Vinyl: 2/LP, duo-tone sleeve.

The Lonelady vinyl album arrived today. Regardless the vintage touch this is really fresh music. Minimal instrumentation, great songwriting, an urgent voice... Following up on her three 7" releases, Manchester's Julie Campbell produces one jewel of a debut album.

The single 'Intuition' I received earlier was accompanied by a peculiar but fitting postcard promoting the 'Manchester Modernist Society'... Class!!

Check this impressive artist person in Paul Morley's interview on the guardian website

Lonelady ''Nerve Up' is out now on Warp Records
Lonelady page on Warp | Lonelady on Myspace | Facebook | Lonelady Website

I thought shops like this one had all closed down. What a relief - there's one in Berlin, just off Nollendorf Platz - and its excellent!
All the best in Brit Pop, Indie, Punk, Soul, Rock. LP's, CD's, a few 10" and a nice selection of 7" Singles.
Kind of like a small Rough Trade store. A friendly place run by Mrs Free and Mr. Dead. Great!

We bought a Gossip 10", Bill Withers Live at Carnegie, The Wombats 7", Glasvegas LP, a rare Young Knives 7", Santogold LP on Vinyl, The Last Shadow Puppets 7" and more... :-)

MR DEAD & MRS FREE SCHALLPLATTEN
Volker Quante - Katharina Winkels - Tim Schneck

Bülowstraße 5, 10783 Berlin, +49 30 2151449, info [at] deadandfree.com, www.deadandfree.com

Mo-Fr 11-19h, Sat 11-16h

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Lustfaust & Schneider TM are playing an exclusive gig for the opening of the Haunch of Venison Berlin space on September 13th from 21h (CEST). The event will be streamed live on www.lustfaust-live.de. This is part of the Jamie Shovlin Lustfaust retrospective (first shown at the I.C.A. in London early 2006).

Lustfaust was an experimental noise band active in West Berlin during the late seventies and early 1980s composed of a group of session musicians. Featuring a Japanese jazz drummer, Matsushita ‘Bobby’ Kazuki, a Belgian guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, Guido van Baelen, a German bassist, Hans Berger, and the California-born, German/American Peter Kruger, the band was a curiously international mixture, initially formed through a mutual distaste for the inoffensive music that it was for the most part their job to produce. Their combination of an aggressive on-stage presence, instrumentation through found objects such as cement mixers and pneumatic drills, and the use of an anti-capitalist community-based model of distribution (if you sent the band a blank cassette, they would return it with their latest release) spawned the Dadaist Geniale Dilettanten movement of the early 1980s and pioneered the burgeoning cassette culture of the late seventies.

There will be a Lustfaust & Schneider TM 7" record released at this event, put out by MirrorWorldMusic (MWM), which is the label of Dirk Dresselhaus (aka Schneider TM) and Michael Beckett (aka kptmichigan).

The cover was designed by Mick Larkin who was responsible for a series of Lustfaust tape covers in the late 70`s.

This is some exciting news! Also check out Lustfaust on myspace.com/lustfaust

SkinnyMan's new single "i'll be surprised" is an instant UK hiphop hit!

The album "Council Estate of Mind" is out now. Long time runner on the scene, SkinnyMan finally gets the release he deserves, with a beautiful, heavy album on Low Life records.

Originating from Leeds, Skinny moved to North London when he was 5. Finding a melting pot of cultures suddenly on his doorstep Skinny took to the streets, immersing himself primarily in the musical culture of reggae and dancehall whilst at home loving the soulful sounds coming from his mum's record player.

A natural talent for running his mouth off (later to be known as rapping), SkinnyMan soon built up a reputation for being a talented lyricist, but it was his reputation for being in trouble with the police that grew even bigger. Let it be said that Skinny believes in the good of marijuana and as an active promoter of its use he doesn't see it as a harm to himself, no greater than alcohol or cigarettes at least, and therewith lies one of several differences of opinion with the law.

As Skinny progressed through open mic battles as a youth he consistently won titles around London, after becoming a founding member of The Bury Crew SkinnyMan left the fold to start up the now infamous Mud Family with Mongo and Chester P. Over the years they built up a reputation for being one of the best Hip Hop crews in England whether on vinyl, on stage freestyling or battling other MCs - check ‘The Mud Files’ on Ronin records or the now classic Mud Fam and Mark B 12" on K-Boro. During this period the Mud Fam expanded with new members joining and Chester P branching off to form Task Force with his brother Farma G.

Skinny eventually signed a deal with Talkin’ Loud and completed a handful of album tracks whilst at the label. However, before the album was finished Skinny was sent to jail for 9 months for distribution of marijuana. Whilst he was inside Talkin Loud was shut down by its parent company, freeing SkinnyMan from his contract and leaving him to develop his album at Self Destruct Music upon his release.

With a deal via Low Life Records the 'Council Estate of Mind' album is out now. Skinny is currently touring the UK with DJ Flip and will be in Europe in February '05.

Check the mp3 file on the mudfam site of Skinny introducing Council Estate of Mind on Tim Westwood's show on Radio1. What an MC!

www.lowliferecords.freeserve.co.uk/skinnyman.htm
www.mudfam.com/homepagehtml.html
www.mudfam.com/mp3a.html

Take a deep look at Chicago and take this record to accompany you.
By Kev the Head, CUE Central Europe, December 2003

Jackmate’s new album is a great piece of music. It has a very fitting cover: On the front there’s a picture of a major American city - probably Chicago – and on the back there’s a wood of feeble birches like you’d find on the borders of cities, along railroads and brownfields. The Prodigal Son is the perfect soundtrack to a setting like this. The music is a deep affair, - a slightly sad and longing sound that takes you places and tells you stories. Not in a cold and hard Detroit kind of way even though Jackmate plays with Detroit elements. There’s plenty warm and mellow bass work under the driving high hat and the pumping kick drum and beautiful melodies… Jackmate plays a sound well held together in one vibe although he toys with various styles, having a good bit of electro influence in there. Prodigal Son is essentially a very American album – in the best of ways.

Resopal-Schallware 2003, distributed by EFA

www.resopal-schallware.com