The Mole
High Dreams

DJ SNEAK on Toy Tonics! Yes. It's happening. Another US legend joins the German house label. After Kai Alcé (EP on Toy Tonics in September 2023) and Joe Claussell who did an amazing remix for the label some time ago, now it's DJ Sneak. It makes sense as Toy Tonics stands for that funky mix of three main inflences: original amercian soul based house music, the italo disco heritage and the more London or Paris 1990ies wildstyle house sound. DJ Sneak reached out to the label last year giving his props and showing love for many of Toy Tonics releases and the guys immediately invited him to join the label with an EP as its also his sound that is getting so popular again with the younger dance generation. So here it is: 6 tracks (4 on the vinyl) that remind the classic, bumpin DJ Sneak sound. Full of energy and emotion. Perfect for the dance floors of today and great to introduce the maestro to the kids who love house now but never heard about the grandmasters.

“We know what jazz is when we hear standards or music that is close to the same source, to a recognized pattern. But what is jazz? Here, a starting point. "Blow" showcases an accumulated CITIZEN:KANE techno vocabulary but it quickly tones down the sensation by introducing frequent breaks in the rhythm, as in "Peiote". But even there we are able to "feel" techno by recalling Wolfgang Voigt's M:I:5 and its parallel yet contrasting rhythmic grids. Elsewhere, manifestations of opposite forces: the beat keeps a body firm on the floor, eminently physical but not commanding; and melodies, cosmic threads, suggest ascension as well as a drive towards the within, creating space for feelings and/or rationalization. "The Fence" or "Montreal" stand as good examples. One less evident aspect of beauty in this record is the apparent coldness of the music, almost rigid and devoid of passion, and thus we declare it more true. As the mind performs a synthesis of what was learned after a class, last track "Family" (expressively) gathers impressions of what went before, adding poetry to the moment. "Blow" may be a reference to the most familiar instruments used in jazz but it can also figuratively mean an explosion, an aesthetic liberation, even with (our) knowledge that for now, and theoretically, the artist chose to concentrate on this thing called jazz.”

Is deep house music dead? On HM008 - Retrospect, Hardmatter co-founder and label honcho Zapata flips that notion on its head, and proves that it’s anything but. The Berlin-based, New York-born producer debuts on his own label with 6 thoughtful slabs of deep, padded, and jazzy house, informed not only by the legacy of his native city but also by the trying times that all house lovers face. The EP begins with the spaced-out, beatless ambient yarn “A1 Bray From Beyond,” a cinematic rumination as moving as it is nostalgic, before transitioning to “A2 Miguel,” a modern deep-house anthem dedicated to Mike Huckaby. “A3 Birchy’s Lament” follows, a hauntingly strewn, piano-driven slab of the early-morning deep house certain to move dancers into thoughtful submission. The B-side finds Zapata in jazz mode: like a Strictly Rhythm record, the 3 dubs on the backside—featuring key and piano solos by long-time collaborator and label hero Javonntte—pull together the best of the producer’s musical tendencies, from slapping basslines to jazzy interludes.

Straight from the stone head, 3hrvl and the spiral sorcerer of ozz speak to you, the chosen ones.