Archivia Tapes
Archivia Tapes

Since returning to action a couple of years back following a near two-decade hiatus, 1990s deep house survivor Ewan Jansen has barely put a foot wrong. With this in mind, it's perhaps unsurprising to find that this outing on IILE is packed full of evocative, melodious and floor-friendly gems. The Australia-based producer begins in confident mood via the darting synth bass, sun-kissed chords and melodious positivity of the wonderful "Reefing 101", before exploring slightly deeper pastures on the huggable warmth of Motor City influenced bumper "The Blackhawks". On the flip you'll find the Larry Heard style lusciousness of "Twinpole" and "Swarbourne", a jazzy and percussive workout smothered in deep space chord progressions. All killer and no filler: job done.

"Don't, for a second, think that Portugal's Bloop imprint is some sort of newcomer to the scene. Fair enough, they might have flown below-radar over the years, but this crew's been churning out quality house and tech since the mid 00s - peeps like Mirco Violi, Kasper and Alex Niggeman having come through the label at various points in time. There is a newcomer here, however, and his name is ARK, who launches "In Lov" on us - a broken, pseudo house experiment with an organic touch. "Arkmagedon" is straighter, more stomping but nonetheless jazzy in its approach, while on the flip, "Perles A Rebours" dives into a cavernous sea of eerie tones carried forth by a dubby swing, and the Kaesar & Cruz remix strips the groove back down to a minimalistic house chugger for the floor." (Juno review)