Phil's Finds - Mar 2024
Had a busy week so this post is a bit late, but diving straight in…
Tracks
I’ve been obsessed with the jazzier side of house recently and two artists I’ve been loving are Crackazat and Flevans. Their tunes Moth Boss and Carry Them hit the list this month and you can clearly hear the jazzier influences to their tracks.
Continuing with the jazzier theme, I came across Somethin’ Here by Terrence Parker on TikTok which is a high energy beat with an infectious jazzy riff.
After seeing My Nu Leng back in February, I’ve dived into their newer releases as MNL and fallen in love with their tune Lesson Learned. The heavy bass sits nicely in the tune with rolling breaks accompanying.
SG Lewis is in this month’s finds roundup twice, firstly with his tune Costa which is a delightfully summery disco house track. And secondly with SILK’s remix of his tune Call On Me, which is a fantastic combination of both producer’s styles.
Bad Boombox was a new find for me this month when I saw clips of his pumping Boiler Room set in Ghent. A must see for anyone who’s a fan of hard house. His tracks There’s Another and Boots have me bouncing around the room.
Xxxo from Deniz Kabu is a great mix of the melodic and bassy. The catchy riff is iconic and I’m struggling to find a genre to classify this as. Highly recommend giving this a listen.
Ezra Collective is an absolute favourite of mine and Joy Anonymous have dropped an edit of their tune Life Goes On which I can only describe as jazz-garage. Wobbly basslines and jazzy chords galore.
I first became obsessed with Bolis Pupul and Charlotte Adigery when I watched their set at Glastonbury 2023. Their music and stage presence had this infectious energy that had me glued to the screen. Bolis Pupul has a new album Letter To Yu out and I want to highlight the track Kowloon for its energetic rolling bassline.
If you’ve read my blog before you know that anything disco has a special place in my heart. And Disco Balls by Møme and MAJASCULE is a gloriously euphoric disco heater. A perfect closing track for a set in the sun. You could combine this with Disco Tool by Maur and you’ve got a solid set already (there’s a pun in here somewhere).
What I Want by Gregor McMurray has taken the electronic side of TikTok by storm. Imagine mixing Knife Party with Daft Punk and you get this crunchy addictive beat.
I gave Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter’s collection a dig through this month and came across what must be my standout track of the month: his edit of Signature by DJ Mehdi. It starts off strong with a huge synth chord progression which only gets better when the drums kick in. Top tier festival tune.
I often do most of my finding at the gym by whacking on a genre compilation playlist and seeing who and what I discover. This month during a particularly grim leg session Kyle Watson’s The Afterhours came on and had me bopping in the squat rack. Gloriously house-y. His remix of Low Rider is another must hear.
Another fantastically house-y tune is Holdin’ On To Your Love by Ninetoes, Mousse T., and TTeo. I can’t get enough of the bass in this one.
TikTok loves a bit of hard groove and EFESIAN’s Up 2 Speed is a wild ride from beginning to end. Hope you’re strapped in as it gets going immediately.
Slowing it right down, we have Camelphat’s remix of Love Will Save Me by WhoMadeWho and RY X. It has this euphoric energy that I can see working well in a coming of age Netflix series.
Romare hits the list twice this month too with two of the best productions I’ve heard to date. Rising Sun is a slow and relaxing jazzy tune that would suit a dimly lit cocktail bar. And Discotheque is 6 minutes and 45 seconds of disco infused jazz house, I can’t get enough of the riff that comes in at 4:40.
Skrillex has been cooking up a storm in the past few years having rocketed back into the scene out of nowhere. He has a new production with Ahadadream, Priya Ragu, and contra called TAKA that infuses South Asian influences with a bouncy bassline.
A bit of an older tune I came across this month is Noize Generation’s and BOVSKI’s remix of Round Round. A gloriously bassy and high energy tune.
And finally, we have Archie Holmes and his track Falling that popped up in another electronic compilation playlist on Spotify. A gorgeously chilled out and dreamy track, it’s the perfect accompaniment to my slow Sunday afternoon writing this blog.
Sets
Starting off strong with the sets, we have Cerrone’s Defected mix from last year that a friend of mine showed me. Lots of fun with plenty of disco to go around.
Doctor Jeep has been on my radar a while and his mix for Peggy Gou’s Gudu Records is a stunning selection of more downtempo beats.
Finally we have HAAi’s DJ-Kicks mix that I finally sat down and listened to end to end. There are some unbelievable selections in this from artists I’ve never heard of before. Highly recommend giving this a listen.
Playlist
Before the playlist, I just wanted to highlight one of my favourite quotes in the industry by none other than Skepta: “If you like music, you like house, you just haven’t realised it yet”.