Lord Gid
It's all lush, and both remixes really develop the ideas in interesting ways. Particularly loving the Alphonse acid rub.
Favorite track: Parvaaneh (Alphonse Remix).
Especial returns in 2019 to celebrate a 5th year by carrying on it’s mission to mix and match influences firmly worn, from new wave to dub, disco to house, fussed in a unique way, aimed at today’s dance floors.
Starting this 4th set of releases (EES031 – EES039) is a welcome to one the UK’s most respected ‘old skool’ producers, a man who can flip from Garage to Breaks, Digi-dub to Deep House, all while riding a killer riddim. Little is known about Peter Riley aka Persian, except the near 20-year stream of superlative productions, more often than not self released on his blink and you’ll miss it, Existence Is Resistance label – and he wouldn’t want it any other way.
Empire takes two cuts from these sought after slabs of vinyl and presents them here in specially extended versions, backed with remixes by new label heads Project Runaway and old hand, Alphonse. Starting with Khaab, this is the closest Persian comes to presenting the influences of past and present, the tradition of homeland with the deep throb of pure Chicago rhythms, this a paean of beauty.
In Project Runaway, the label presents a new project from Alek Lee (Antinote) and Stephan Bazbaz (No Waves), two respected producers in their own right, coming together to a deep heavyweight bass-percussion-dub reimagining, where Arabic and Hebrew sit side-by-side is literal (musical) harmony, just as they should.
The flip pauses to present the raw power of Parvaaneh. Again extended especially for the EP, this bass and acapella, is a call to simply listen. The appreciation of Larry Heard is apparent again, with the respectful bass underlying a pure vocal and strings interplay.
Who else but to ask for a rework than, another mysterious ‘who he?’ head in Alphonse. First (re)discovered by the label in 2015, he has since gone on to release for Klasse Wrecks and Hypercolour to considerable acclaim and has more to come across a number of respected homes in 2019. Taking Parvaaneh’s vocal to a Labyrinth basement, the squelching bass, raw sequencing and afro-vocals submerge and converge to hyno-effect.
My whole body agrees with the pace of this short but solid track list. A generous helping of acoustic rhythm samples ignited by breakbeats add extra attention to full range movement on the dancefloor. Not a beat wasted. cherub420
This 6-track compilation features artists from around the world creating deep, expressive, and ultra-dancefloor-ready rhythms. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 16, 2024