It’s with great pride (and a certain sense of defiance!) that Tom and I present you with the 200th Freerange release. Despite the best efforts of three bankrupt distributors, an arsonist (who set the Sony warehouse ablaze back in 2012) and a volatile market, we retained the fire in our bellies, a stiff upper lip, and most importantly an unrelenting passion for electronic music, we soldiered on and here we are at Freerange 200!
To mark the occasion we wanted to put together a compilation of exclusive new tracks from both long-standing Freerange regulars as well as some fresh artists to the label whose music we’ve been loving. Being committed to vinyl we figured the best way would be to do a two part release with four-tracks on each part.
Kicking things off we have my first original Jimpster track since Porchlight And Rocking Chairs. Head Spin is a relentlessly chugging house track which puts equal parts Disco, early House, Afro and Techno through the blender and out comes a peaktime floor pleaser with a spring in its step and a lovely driving energy. I’m really proud of this one and hope you love it too!
Next up we have Matt Masters teaming up with Pippo Ceretti on Xenophilia. We’re like a couple of proud parents seeing how Matt has come on with his productions and this brilliant slice of freaky, stripped back electronic house shows he’s heading for big things.
Flip over for a very special track from Andy Hart, one of the Melbourne-based producers helping to re-invent and reinvigorate the current house scene alongside the likes of Harvey Sutherland, Fantastic Man and Andras Fox. Not only has Andy managed to establish one of the most hotly tipped new labels (Voyage Recordings) in the space of just two release, but he’s also been rocking it with his productions on labels such as Heist and Sleazy Beats Black Ops and we’re very happy to welcome him to Freerange with this sun-drenched slice of gorgeousness called MYLNY.
Closing the first part we have long-standing Freerange regular Shur-i-kan stepping up with his track Raindance and if your tastes edge towards the jazzier, fusion end of House then you’ll be all over this one. Classic Shur-i-kan and sounding lush as ever!
Turning to Part B we open with a brilliant track with almost as good a title; Hamburglar from Luv Jam. This guy has been responsible for killer cuts on esteemed labels such as We Play House, Tsuba and Phonica White so we wanted in on the action and thankfully he indulged us. We absolutely love the raw simplicity of this track which bumps along just perfectly with not much more than a kick, clap and single note bass line to keep you grooving. Apart from the repeating piano stab hooking you in and sending people nuts when everything drops out in the break that is.
Esa & Mervin Granger come next with the sublime deepness of Goema Heat. Esa’s proudly wearing his Cape Town roots on his sleeves on this one and as the title suggests, has come up with the perfect track to warm up any party worth it’s salts. We’re talking heavy on the percussion and tantalizing synth FX and a lovely tension which builds subtly before taking things up a gear after the breakdown when the bouncing bassline comes to the fore.
It’s fare to say a Freerange release such as this wouldn’t be complete without a Manuel Tur contribution, so while we’ve been busy putting together his forthcoming Remix Retrospective LP we’re happy to say Manuel found the time to put together this gem entitled Laguenesie.
And last but not least we have Kito Jempere with his track This Is Why We Do This featuring Detroit luminary Jerry The Cat. St. Petersburg native Kito drops serious heat on this raw and dubby club jam which we feel is probably as close to an ‘archetypal’ Freerange track as it’s possible to get so sums up this special release perfectly.
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