Articles
2009 Ten Favourite Labels
Simon Scott's Navigare
Traxx's 10 Chicago Tracks

Albums
Aerosol
Andrasklang
Aquarelle
Matt Bartram
Bassnectar
Bell Horses
Broadcast & Focus Group
Angus Carlyle
Celer
Ytre Rymden Dansskola
Do Make Say Think
Dorosoto
Isnaj Dui
Shane Fahey
Jan Garbarek Group
Lisa Germano
Rachel Grimes
Halogen
Hellothisisalex
Christopher Jion
P Jørgensen
Leyland Kirby
Klimek
KZA
Elisa Luu
Mountain Ocean Sun
Marcello Napoletano
Andy Nice
Nicolay
port-royal
Rameses III
Sankt Otten
Danny Saul
Simon Scott
Sleep Whale
Susanna & Magical Orch.
Syntaks
Traxx
Claude VonStroke

Compilations / Mixes
5
Crookers
Favourite Places 2
Music For Mathematics
Snuggle & Slap
Sander Kleinenberg 2
Y9

EPs
DJ Bone
DJ Nasty
Duque and Baxter
Filterwolf
Ghenacia & Djebali
Ikonika
Kez YM
King Roc
Vadim Lankov
Lavender Ticklesoft
Lo-Fi Soundsystem
Niko Marks
Seuil
Subeena
Mark Templeton

Marcello Napoletano: The Space Voodoo Album
Mathematics Recordings

Italian producer Marcello Napoletano makes a strong impression with this fabulous debut album on Jamal Moss's Mathematics Recordings. The double-vinyl package serves up vibrant variations on classic Chicago and Detroit house themes, and spices up Napoletano's funky tracks with natural (piano, horns, percussion) and electronic (synthesizers, drum machines) sounds. Rather than sounding too slick, the material feels loose, live, and funky, as if we're eavesdropping on a group of musicians meeting for a weekly improv session. The opening title cut, an occasionally cacophanous percolating broil of wordless vocal accents, jazzy piano runs, and clattering percussion, lives up to its trippy title, after which “The Calm Before the Storm” marries a lovely funk-bass pulse to a midtempo lope while creamy synthesizers squiggle alongside. “Mood Jane (Black Keys & White Dust Rmx)” bolsters a jubilant Latin-jazz skip with bright horn-like colourations and a swinging house groove, while “My Brother's Soul” works its future-house vibe into a gallop. Downplaying the acoustic dimension for the closer, the futuristic “Somewhere in the Galaxy” opts for a heavily synthetic sound in its hyperactive spin through a beatless realm.

Napoletano comes at his dance music with a strong jazz sensibility, with the music ultimately occupying a middle ground between acoustic jazz and electronic dance forms. Though it's merely one example of many, “Ottantotto” bridges those worlds by overlaying a bubbly electronic house groove with sprinkles of acoustic jazz piano playing. The serpentine “A Miles Man (Slowest Part 1)” likewise merges the two realms into one, in this case by augmenting synth chord stabs with interlocking patterns of vibes and cymbals (the unmistakable croak of Miles himself surfaces late in the track as a voiceover). In some cases, Napoletano adds crowd noise but it's hardly necessary when the tracks already feel so much like live takes. Every melodically rich and cut oozes a maximal, wide-screen vibe that has the potential to make other dance albums seem anemic and over-produced by comparison.

November 2009