Premier: It's Operational (CHIDA Remix) - This Soft Machine

Hot on the heels of its recent release, Eskimo Recordings are to release a new single taken from their Yellow Collection compilation later this week. Returning to Eskimo after his double-sided release last year, On & On / This Place Was Meant For Me, It's Operational is the latest track from This Soft Machine.

This Soft Machine is the moniker for musician Tim Sullivan and, in keeping with the general atmosphere of The Yellow Collection, It's Operational is a deep psych Balearic number. This remix is one of two that feature on the single, out on Friday. Sullivan met CHIDA after moving to Tokyo in 2009, describing him as "a guy with a huge smile and a great music knowledge to match". CHIDA's mix ups the pace and toughens the feel of the original to create a deep piece of electronic drama, the final minutes of the track building to an unstoppable crescendo.

It's Operational is released on Friday. Pre-order the release which includes the original, the CHIDA remix and a third version by Berlin-based DJ and producer Avalon Emerson here.

Album Review: The Yellow Collection - Eskimo Recordings

BlackPlastic.co.uk regulars Eskimo are back with their latest compilation in their ongoing series, this one labelled The Yellow Collection. Continuing the gentle progression of recent entries, this new suite of songs feels like a step into deeper, more dancefloor tuned sounds.

Opening with Atella's gorgeous Mechanical Sparrow, as premiered on BlackPlastic.co.uk earlier this year, The Yellow Collection doesn't so much as announce itself as it does slip into the room gently shimmering, softly unveiling its presence. Greece's NTEIBINT teams up with ex-Twin Shadow bassist Russ Manning (here as Rush Midnight) on the rhythmic dream pop of By Your Side. Du Tonc's We Can Hold On gets a previously unreleased dub by German label favourites Satin Jackets, continuing a journey that sees each track become a little deeper than the one before.

By track four things have descended into a far more minimal, dubby territory than you would readily expect from the Belgian label these days... MiddleSkyBoom's Slow With The Run is a deep and percussive number, random noises punctuating the bags of reverb-laden space that the track is successfully constructed around. We also get a punk-funk basslines on the acid-flecked psychedelia of Man Power's Fisky, a track that deviates little over it's tightly wound nine-minute length.

There is little let-up on The Yellow Collection until Horixon puncture the atmosphere with Colours, featuring Else Born - a dramatic disco record the offers just a slight reprieve before Vinny Villbass' The Itch dives straight back into tech-house territory, albeit with a Ballearic disco-tinged break that recalls Tangerine Dream. El Wild, from Mexico's Zombies In Miami, is like the paranoid heat of a midday sun in aural form - cyclical synthesisers, distorted bass and lots of reverb.

It is the penultimate track, James Curd & Turbotito's blissfully removed You Could Be Floating, before things let off properly. The vocal almost audibly sighing at the release of tension amidst slowly birthed electronics. And then Go March close things out with the wonky skate-math-funk of Rise, a muted and funny end to things.

The Yellow Collection is a considerably more wild release than we have had from Eskimo for some time with even their regular artists turning in something more experimental and introspective. It may jostle at the seams, but as tends to be the case the individual quality of everything here is consistently high... The Yellow Collection makes a fine soundtrack to getting baked in the hot summer sun.

The Yellow Collection is available through Eskimo Recordings tomorrow. Stream the track Fisky by Man Power in full below:

Out May 20, pre-order here! http://news.lnk.to/TYC Eskimo Recordings is back for its annual inspection of what propels the Belgian imprint’s throttle, exploring the boundaries of their house, disco and pop infusions in ‘The Yellow Collection’. Each artist has their own identity but Eskimo forms a package of seamless musical treats and forges yet new allies in the dreamy landscape of ‘The Yellow Collection’. More info http://maouris.co.uk/music/eskimo-recordings-presents-the-yellow-collection https://soundcloud.com/manpower-1 http://www.eskimorecordings.be/ https://www.facebook.com/eskimorecordings/ https://twitter.com/eskimorecords

EP Review: Feel Good feat. Scavenger Hunt - Satin Jackets

Feel Good opens Satin Jackets' recent debut album, Panorama Pacifico, and is itself a reimagining of the duo's early track You Make Me Feel Good. With vocals from Los Angeles four-piece Scavenger Hunt this retains much of the simple and achingly enthusiastic infatuation of the original but adds a layer of polish that has come with the years of additional experience Satin Jackets have built up.

Scavenger Hunt have attempted to bring more of a voice to the track, in their words the band attempted to capture the feeling of "jumping into a cool pool on a hot summer day - refreshing, exhilarating and sexy". The additional vocals act as a fairly natural extension of You Make Me Feel Good's sentiment, but as such it is a little difficult to argue that they add much... The original already had a somewhat restrained perfection and there is nothing wrong with this reimagining, it just feels a little unnecessary.

In this package come three remixes of the new track. Cavego adds some warm pads and a little more range, but otherwise keeps things very close to the original. The Keljet mix gives the track a slightly more disco feel, calypso rhythms adding some more colour.

Finally the In Limbo remix is blissfully horizontal - Balearic and a pure ode to lounging glistening by the poolside. It is here that those Scavenger Hunt vocals come into their own a bit more, the space opening them up and giving the emotion a little more room.

Feel Good is out is out on Eskimo Recordings on Friday - in the meantime check out the album Panorama Pacifico below.

Available on Vinyl / CD / Download / Stream here : http://news.lnk.to/panoramapacifico Undoubtedly the darlings of electro-pop, Satin Jackets finally unveil their debut artist album. ‘Panorama Pacifico’ features a string of cameos from vocalists familiar and exotic, jetting in from LA, Berlin, London, Belgium and Australia. Scaling the heights of the Hype machine from their first release to the latest, and clocking up over ten million plays on spotify, Satin Jackets' original brand of diva funk and smooth disco has whetted the tastebuds of the likes of Majestic Casual and i-D mag who said the duo’s “super sexy, infectious house music is filled with the vibe of summertime.” German music producer Tim Bernhardt and lead performer Den Ishu are Satin Jackets. Their eponymous live show has relentlessly toured the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe, opening their fluid pop appeal and accessible four-to-the-floor groove up to the world at large. Their album ‘Panorama Pacifico’ is set for release on their home label, Eskimo Recordings. The Belgian imprint has been a purveyor of disco, house and everything in between for over fifteen years. More info http://maouris.co.uk/music/panorama-pacifico Out April 8th on https://soundcloud.com/eskimorecordings http://www.satin-jackets.com/ http://www.eskimorecordings.be/ https://www.facebook.com/satinjackets https://www.facebook.com/eskimorecordings/ https://twitter.com/satinjackets https://twitter.com/eskimorecords

EP Review: Page One Is Love - Aeroplane

Back when Aeroplane were a duo they felt a little bit untouchable, their early EPs on Eskimo marking them out as leaders in the newly emerged rebirth of disco. The eponymous Aeroplane, Pacific Air Race and Whispers all carving out a loose, organic take on house and disco that eskewed the previously prevailing artificial funky house sound.

Once Stephen Fasano left to leave remaining member Vito de Luca to continue operating under the same name it felt a little like the directions that could be pursued exploded. Single We Can't Fly was more eclectic, a dub-influenced track that retained the unmistakably Balearic sound of Aeroplane's early EPs but applied to a maximalist template. 

We are four years on from the release of debut album In Flight Entertainment and it feels like de Luca is re-embracing a more restrained sound, albeit applied to a more straight-up classic house template. On the heels of his collaboration with Benjamin Diamond, the title track of Page One Is Love sees Aeroplane team up with original house innovator Jamie Principle, and together they create something that sounds like it has been taken out of Frankie Knuckle's song book. Keys pound out a repeated uplifting refrain, with the track riding a warm four-four beat. De Luca undoubtedly adds a little modern polish - the track infuses that irresistible vintage house sound with perfect modern production to create a little slice of summer for your ears.

Dancing With Each Other follows a very similar template, to the extent that it could probably be mistaken for a re-imagining of the title track. Female vocals are woven into the track like an additional instrument and the track features an irresistible distorted synth in the final third that couldn't sound more White Isle of it tries. 

A remix of each track features. Cassara's take on Page One Is Love includes a shuffling US garage beat and closely looped piano melody but it lacks the heart of the original. The Ten Ven version of Dancing With Each Other fares better, carving out a clipped tech-house track that plays with filters to create some gorgeous drops. 

It is great to hear Aeroplane putting out music again and the straight up quality of the title track feels like a winning balance of nostalgia and modern house. The two original tracks here are arguably too similar to know whether de Luca has lots more to deliver, but as a standalone release this feels a bit like some of those early Eskimo releases, albeit drawing more now from classic house than disco.

Page One Is Love is out now on Eskimo Recordings, preview the title track below:

EP Review: The Owner - NTEIBINT feat. Stella

Another slice of aural gold from Eskimo Recordings. The Owner is an easy going love song from Greek DJ and producer NTEIBINT, real name George Bakalakos. On it he whips up a steady-paced electronic track with disco flourishes with gorgeous vocals from Stella... And it is the vocal hooks and those muted guitars in the chorus that really hold this track together.

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The Owner - NTEIBINT feat. Stella

Together with an accentuated, more Balearic beatless version and and extended mix are two remixes. Justin Faust lays down a chunky elastic bassline and uses those guitars to full effect, mixing them in more liberally than on the original. It plays more with the track's layers, creating more of a sense of contrast.

Anoraak's remix is the best here - slickly layered in a effects on the central synth patterns and using a strings to create a more dramatic sense of disco that actually evokes Everything But The Girl in their Temperamental-era, and their collaboration with Deep Dish on Future Of The Future (Stay Gold) particularly. It's utterly glorious disco of the finest variety, and frankly I can't get enough of it.

The Owner is released through Eskimo Recordings on 8 June. Whilst you wait for it to come out check out an edit NTEIBINT released a while back entitled Fooling Around. His remix of Chet Faker's 1998, also below, is great too!