- How does a guy like Zed Bias, with releases stretching back more than a decade, manage to release four tracks that sound as on-point, hungry and vital as anything you're likely to find in the house section of your local record store today? I'm not entirely sure, but they must be sprinkling something into the water cooler over at Swamp81 headquarters, where producers young and old have contributed to a discography at once current and—if these special sounds are to be believed—classic.
And yes, you read correctly: Stubborn Phase, the great Dave Jones's latest, may resonate as strongly with contemporary househeads as those who come at the stuff through the hardcore continuum. Only on the title cut do we get the kind of futuristic dread the Will Bankhead-designed packaging evokes. Across the other three sides (yes, you'll pay doublepack prices for just four tracks, but you'll be thankful to hear how these bombs slam at 45 RPM), Bias treats us to jazzy syncopation, the soulful yelps of disembodied divas and chord progressions warm enough to put a kettle on, all caught up in a sort of playful forward motion that could keep you going on all night. "Reminisce About the Phuture" throws some bin-rattling bass underneath its rising synths, perhaps to remind us our feet are still firmly planted on earth. "Basic Needs" has enough hooks for an entire EP, though Bias, acting as a kind of ringleader, keeps things from getting completely out of hand. "Music Deep Inside," featured on Jackmaster's recent RA podcast, really steals the show, hopping behind the wheel of a familiar house formula and redlining the engine.
トラックリスト A Reminisce About the Phuture
B Basic Needs
C Music Deep Inside
D Stubborn Phase