SHINEDOE
No Boundaries
Intacto

This is the first full-length release for Amsterdam-based DJ/producer Shinedoe on her own Intacto label. True to its name, she has chosen a broad sound for No Boundaries -- one that is always focused on the dancefloor and is never predictable. This record can be seen as the yellow-bricked road right through all the sounds that defined her DJ sets in the past years. The result is a record where rhythmic tracks fluently take turns with organic-sounding jam sessions -- warm and jazzy, deep and funky. "Below" starts it all off with an irresistible minimal groove, a tempting bass line and a warm, soothing synth. "Bounce To This" features a more funk-influenced house sound, just waiting to rock dancefloors around the globe. "Jazz it Up" is a track like you've never heard from Shinedoe, but it leaves you concluding, "why not?" Deep drum rolls build around a funky housebeat and saxophone sample in an almost hypnotizing groove -- just try to stand still for this one. "Finding A Balance" also shows a side of Shinedoe we didn't know before -- it's as if she gave the extremely rhythmic productions from her past a stylish, deep house twist. "No Boundaries" showcases her first collaboration with a vocalist -- guest of honor on this unadulterated oldskool house track is Bumpy, aka Mr. J. On "Higher," produced under her Innersphere alias, we can hear Shinedoe doing what she does best: subtle percussion and airy piano-loops put together in an inevitable dancefloor bomb. With the atmospheric closing-piece "Just For Us," she underlines her border-crossing ambition; warm, jazzy grooves jut against headstrong minimal techno. A brilliant and accomplished release from one of dance music's most organic and future-minded producers.

SMITH & MUDD
Le Suivant
Claremont 56

Little did I know that the amazing 12" by Sorcerer that I had picked up earlier this year was by an artist living in my backyard! I had been initially attracted to "Surfing At Midnight" due to its fantastic Prins Thomas remix and the fact that it was on white-hot UK label Tirk (aka the folks behind the highly revered Nuphonic imprint), but I was further intrigued - who is/are Sorcerer? Well, it didn't take too long to find out.



Sorcerer's debut full-length White Magic was released in August and the SF Electronica section has been singing its praises ever since. The album is chock-full of sun-drenched beach vibes, slow tempos, wistful guitar melodies and gentle, rolling beats - basically everything I'm feeling in 2007. I finally met Daniel Judd - Mr. Sorcerer himself - recently, at Prins Thomas' SF debut earlier this month and got to tell him how great I thought his music was. He's a chill, friendly guy, not unlike his music unsurprisingly, and he introduced me to his partner Sam Grawe aka Hatchback, who recently released a fantastic 12" on SoCal boutique label Sentrall Records, and who Daniel collaborates with as Windsurf. Not long after we exchanged pleasantries, Thomas played a tune that was so great I *had* to find out what it was. Lo and behold - it was Windsurf's remix of "Us vs Them" by LCD Soundsystem, coming out soon on the Bunch of Stuff EP on DFA. Awestruck, I walked over to Sam and Daniel. "This is your tune?!", I gushed. They confirmed it, and it was then I knew I had a new favorite artist. I invited the duo to play a DJ set for Mandala, Amoeba SF's weekly DJ series, which they will be doing this Friday at 7pm. In the meantime, I asked them some questions via email; here are their responses: