Two-tracker from Indonesian group Precious Bloom. 'Flashlight' on the A side is inspired by Euro disco with a touch of Indonesian city pop. The track 'Mojo' on the B-side explores a rhyme of witchery... More

Reissue of early Japanese house outing by Junichi Soma, Shuji Wada and Katsuya Sayo. Comes with insert with liner notes.

All musical movements require a spark to set them alight; in the case of Japanese house music, that spark was provided by the forward-thinking resident DJs of The Bank in Roppongi, Tokyo. In 1989, to celebrate the ground-breaking club’s first birthday, the venue released a 12” EP featuring first-time productions from three of its DJs, Junichi Soma, Shuji Wada and Strong Katsuya AKS Katsuya Sayo.

Widely considered to be one of the first ever EP of house music produced in Japan, 1st Unit was never officially released. Instead, 500 of the 1000 copies pressed were given away at The Bank’s first birthday party, with the rest initially being sold not in local record stores, but rather the venue’s own in-house shop. Three decades on, the 12” is finally set to get its first worldwide release via Rush Hour’s Store JPN Series.

The record has its roots in The Bank’s willingness to give its ever-changing roster of DJs a free hand to play what they liked – at the time a rarity in Tokyo nightclubs, whose musical offerings usually revolved around strictly defined playlists. At The Bank in 1989, it was not only common to hear European body music and the kind of post-disco New York productions associated with Larry Levan’s sets at the Paradise Garage, but also acid house – something not offered at the time by other clubs in the city.

This cutting-edge blend of sounds, combined with the venue’s unique decor (it was modeled on the inside of a London bank, complete with a cashier’s window to take entrance fees), made The Bank a go-to spot for young party-goers, celebrities and forward-thinking Japanese musicians (Ryuichi Sakamoto was reportedly a weekly visitor).

When it came to celebrating the club’s birthday by cutting a unique record, it made sense for The Bank’s owners to turn to three of their most exciting resident DJs, who were assisted by Heigo Tani and Jun Ebi. The collective name, 1st Unit, was chosen to reflect the fact that all three resident DJs were debutants with no previous studio experience.

As this reissue proves, the music remains timeless, magical, and authentic to the sound of American house productions of the period – albeit with occasional twists,. Katsuya Sano’s EP opener, ‘I Need Love’, sounds like a twist on Larry Heard productions of the period – all jacking TR-909 drums, undulating analogue bass, dreamy JUNO synthesizer chords and evocative vocal samples.

The influence of Chicago acid house is also evident on Junichi Souma’s ‘Ubnormal Life’, whose unusual title contains what he says was an intentional misspelling. Driven forwards by restless drum machine handclaps, sweet chords and rising and falling melodic motifs, the track is an energetic and uplifting treat.

Perhaps the most influential of the three tracks at the time – within Japan at least – was Shuji Wada’s similarly misspelled ‘Endless Load’. Deeper and more melodic with a more expansive arrangement, the track’s combination of marimba-style lead lines, tribal drum patterns, dreamy chords and jazz-funk influenced bass offered a loose blueprint for the more successful and better-known Japanese deep house tracks that followed. More

When it first slipped out in 2015, Manabu Nagayama’s ‘Light & Shadow’ passed most people by. Yet it’s a genuinely overlooked gem a musically expansive and uplifting Japanese deep house workout that first featured on a promo-only compilation back in 2015. A softly spun slab of slow-building brilliance full of fluid piano motifs, heady hand percussion, the track effortlessly sashays between heartfelt dancefloor melancholia and tactile deep house positivity. One DJ to see its potential was Rush Hour co-founder Antal Heitlager, who asked Masalo to remix it. Over ‘a few years’, Masalo worked on the revision in bursts, tweaking it and subtly altering the arrangement until he was happy. The results are undeniably impressive, elevating an already excellent track to whole new levels. DJs seem to agree, too, with Masalo’s fine remix becoming something of an underground anthem following the release of a limited number of white label test pressings earlier last year.

Taking the spiritual end of deep house as his inspiration – and happy memories of attending events while visiting Japan – the Dutch-Japanese producer has delivered a slowly-building epic that subtly ratchets up energy and excitement throughout, while effortlessly eking out every last drop of emotion from Manabu’s piano-laden production.

Extensively road-tested at the Brighter Days parties he runs with long-time DJ partner Kamma, Masalo’s remix settles into a chugging groove before introducing Manabu’s tactile hand percussion – a staple of spiritual deep house cuts – and melancholic piano refrains, as well as his own lilting chords and cascading synth sounds. By the time the original’s bouncy piano riff drops midway through, you’ll be lost in the music. Fittingly given the quality of Manabu’s original, it’s a revision that showcases the track’s best elements while gently lifting it to new heights. More

Amsterdam based musician/producer Djosa (long time band member of Arp Frique & The Family) joins the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with two uplifting songs. The legendary Ronald Snijders is featured on ''Vampiro" with whom he (together with Arp Frique) made the documentary Easy Man and the album The Nelson & Djosa Sessions. TIP!

*Please note* Due to an unfortunate production mistake, the tracklisting on the labels and sleeve are in the wrong order. The correct order is: A. Botanica Obscura and B: Vampiro (feat. Ronald Snijders). More

Amsterdam and Naples based bassist Daniel Monaco (bass player for Nu Genea, Mystic Jungle & Capinera) joins the Rush Hour Store Jams imprint with a strong disco heavy two tracker featuring vocals from Mame N'Diack Seck Thiam and a wink to Cerrone, including instrumental versions. Released in conjunction with Utopia records London. More

Gigi Testa, a bona fide Neapolitan hero whose work draws inspiration from local music of the last four decades – think Pino Daniele, Tullio de Piscopo, Tony Esposito, James Senese & Napoli Centrale, Nu Guinea, Mystic Jungle Tribe and rising stars such Fabrizio Fattore, Daniel Monaco and Raffaele Attansio – but also deep house and owes a lot to African music in all its forms.

Credits:
Written Arranged & Programmed : Gigi Testa
Mixed & Engineered : Gigi Testa & Paolo Convertito
Synths, Keyboards,Drum Machines,Effects,Live & Electronic Drums : Gigi Testa
Fender Bass,Live Guitars & Additional Keyboards : Paolo Convertito More

Artwork insert, in PVC outer sleeve

Awanto3 (Rednose Distrikt) returns to Rush Hour with "Party". Featuring Jos De Haas (New Cool Collective) on percussion and Stefan Schmid (Zuco 103) on the keys.

Party was born in a small village located in Wallonia during a period of house-sitting for a family on holiday. Initially my mother was asked to take care of the chickens, goat, dog and donkey but eventually I decided to take care of them to relieve my mother. This week turned out to be a small nightmare, because I think the house was being possessed by a spirit that I had to deal with night and day. The vibe of the house was so grimy, due to the fact that there were calendars with all kinds of weapons and dark oak furniture, interspersed with a huge flatscreen and blinds at the ready to be rolled out when the sun started to go down (by request of the paranoid owner). This setting affected my sketches; a dark side that was looking for contra light weight. After I took care of the animals, I had an energy to escape to my MPC to make the basis for a possible new album. When I got back in Amsterdam, I started to work out some of the sketches I’ve made in the ghost house together with Stefan and Jos in Studio K at Sloterdijk. More

Tracklist:
1. (Earth In) Blue
2. (Earth In) Blue (Instrumental)

‘(Earth in) Blue’ by rogue Japanese producer Hiroshi Matsui aka Royal Mirrorball. Including a previously unreleased instrumental! Comes with obi.

While still in high school, Matsui started studying multi-recording synthesizer composition. His fascination for electronic music quickly became an obsession and in 1985 the eighteen year old Matsui took part in The famous Parco department stores-organized Organ-Zaka competition to win the grand prize, beating such luminaries as Towa Tei (of Deee-Lite fame) and Zabadak and kickstarting his career as a professional musician scoring jingles and commercials.

In 1992 Matsui’s ‘Samba de Howa Howa’ was released as a Japan-only promo. The song nevertheless garnered the attention of Tony Humphries, became a fixture on Kiss FM and was eventually featured on the first volume of King Street’s infamous ‘Sounds of Far East Dance Music’ compilation.

At the end of the nineties Matsui established his own Royal Mirrorball production company and label, kicking off with the EP that featured the wonderful ‘(Earth in) Blue’. Matsui: “the name ‘Royal Mirrorball’ was inspired by the gay clubs of the 80's. That’s what I had in mind whenever I made music, whether it was house music, J-pop, noise or contemporary music.” Quantities of the EP that spawned ‘(Earth in) Blue’ were extremely limited as they were originally intended only as a gift for friends and colleagues. Matsui: “But it was also an issue of cash on hand and production costs. Funds were limited back then.” More

Rush Hour-affiliate and Amsterdam local Relmer is back with what may well be his best work so far. ‘H2O’ expertly displays the vibrant energy he’s known for around these parts with two Amazon-inspired deephouse groovers, a melancholic walk through the jungle, a Detroit-infused progressive anthem and a hypnotic midtempo floorwarmer. Absolutely stellar stuff from A to Z.

“Super nice versatile EP by Relmer, Bummers Paradise has been a firm favourite this summer”
Esa Williams

"Blissful sounds, dancefloor material, and most of all, all very fun music to listen to. 10/10"
Fatima Yamaha More

Napoli has long been one of Italy’s most musically vibrant cities – a metropolis famed for colourful, atmospheric and vivid dance music, with a rich and diverse sonic history stretching back to the disco era. For the last 36 years, it has been home to Gigi Testa, a bona fide local hero whose work not only draws inspiration from Neapolitan music of the last four decades – think Pino Daniele, Tullio de Piscopo, Tony Esposito, James Senese & Napoli Centrale, Nu Guinea, Mystic Jungle Tribe and rising stars such Fabio Fattore, Daniel Monaco and Raffaele Attansio – but also high-quality deep house and African music in all its forms.

Testa remains largely unheralded outside his home city, where he’s long been a regular fixture behind the decks at events such as Neuhm and at renowned audiophile club Basic, despite winning plaudits for a string of singles and EPs on his own World Peace Music and Freedom Dance imprints. Now Testa has become the latest artist to contribute to the Rush Hour Store Jams series, delivering a four-track EP that takes his self-proclaimed world music-meets-club music approach in kaleidoscopic new directions.

Inspired by a mixture of 1980s, post-boogie African music, the sounds of the Caribbean, Testa’s love for dance music from New York and his own Neapolitan musical roots, the Esoteric Paradise EP is an entertaining, each-catching collection of cuts the effortlessly blurs existing musical boundaries. Rich in synthesizer and drum machine sounds, it should delight all those who love melodic, tropical-tinged electronic music.

Testa sets out his stall with the EP-opening title track, a squelchy slab of electro-fired musical joy whose dreamy pads and synthesized marimba melodies recall the mid-80s work of legendary South African musician Hugh Masekela and the delay-laden proto-house jams of the late Boyd Jarvis. He opts for a deeper, sweeter, and more laidback sound on the gently jazz-funk-tinged warmth of ‘Blue Ocean’, where layered percussion, ethereal chords and morning-fresh melodies catch the ear, before doffing a cap the spacey electrofunk and obscure Trinidadian synth-pop records on the wonderfully picturesque ‘Guayaba’.

Testa’s own love of house music comes to the fore on future Balearic dancefloor classic ‘Moments in Time’, a sublime fusion of cowbell-driven club grooves, sun-splashed guitars, jazz-funk bass and alluring new age chords. Retro-futurist in tone but pleasingly hard to pigeonhole, with electronic and acoustic instruments high in the mix, it offers a fitting finale to an endlessly entertaining EP from one of Napoli’s most talented producers.

Written Arranged & Programmed : Luigi Testa
Mixed & Engineered : Luigi Testa & Paolo Convertito
Acoustic Guitar,Electronic Guitar,Fender Bass & Additional Keyboards : Paolo Convertito
Synths, Keyboards, Drum Machines,Effects,Live & Electronic Drums : Luigi Testa More

Thirteen years after his whopping ‘Time and Space’ EP, Chicago 'O.G.' Mark Grusane returns to the Rush Hour imprint with his ‘Dance Intensity’ EP. Combining trademark electro, wave, synth-pop and disco elements into three modern dancefloor cuts. More

*warehouse find** pressed in a small qty for the RH physical store in 2015.. More

Limited 7 inch for Recordstore day 2021 (July 17th drop). Taken from Arp Frique's upcoming album "The Seed"! More

Three dance floor hitters by the Dutch Arp Frique. "Nos Magia" holds collaborations with Nigerian funk originator, Orlando Julius, and Cape-Verdea legend, Americo Brito. New cuts that could easily have been made in the 70s! Big tip! Arp Frique is Niels Nieuborg from the city of Rotterdam, who has been actively involved in the Dutch live music scene for years, working with Cape Verdean & Surinamese musicians especially. After all these years, he finally presents his own true musical output. "Nos Magia" is a classic sounding, but unheard Cape Verdean funana song featuring the old skool Americo Brito on vocals. The b-side holds two collaborations with afro-beat protagonist Orlando Julius.....enjoy!! More

Repressed!
A lost Japanese house classsic! EP of tracks is taken from the rare Kino-Moderno album originally released in 1990 (tracks from this were used for the video game "Video Drug 2"). It's a cool collection of sounds that are reminiscent of Dan Curtin, Soichi Terada or Harumi Hosono's "Super Xevious" proto techno bomb. Features remix work (recorded in 93) from British soulful house DJ Frankie Valentine who had a record on Chez Damier's Balance records. As a bonus this set includes an unreleased version of Into The Future. More

12inch release of highly sought after Colored Music edits by Tokyo's Chee Shimizu (Organic Music). The two cuts originally featured on the band's seminal self titled album from 1981 and 'Heart Beat' remained a cult DJ secret weapon, for many years all over the world. This heavy EP includes an alternative version of 'Heart Beat' that featured on the Japan only "Individual Beauty" LP of 2018 (also compiled by Shimizu). More