The Londinium EP is the latest release on Uzuri Recordings and welcomes Chicago Skyway back to the fold. Not that he’s been away too long, having produced a full 12” release and contributed to the ‘From Chicago Turin Amsterdam & Dublin With Love EP’ just last year. We also welcome Hakim Murphy to the label – with his credentials it was only a matter of time before our paths crossed!As the title suggests, this release was inspired, conceptually at least, by our nation’s capital, and it’s apparent that Sean has spent quite enough time here to get the gist of the place, with the B-side tracks entitled Traffic and Noise, respectively. I’m sure he loves it here, really.Musically, he keeps it closer to his Windy City heart – very clearly reflecting his roots, in fact. As a DJ and club promoter in mid 90s Chicago, Sean frequently shared the decks with some of the city’s biggest talents at that time – Cajmere, Gene Farris and Spencer Kinsey (Gemini) among them, and one could say that there’s an audible Relief flavour to A-side, London Streets, with it’s stripped-back, hypnotic stomp. It’s fitting that Hakim Murphy remixes the track, coming from similar roots within Chicago’s scene, and his own reworking retains the drawn-out essence of the original but brings a whole new hips-and-shoulders groove to the track. On the flip, Traffic plays out a very simple analogue groove over a clapping 808 percussive pattern. The sonic equivalent of being stuck in a stationary car with Larry Heard, perhaps? Or maybe just a really sweet track. Noise can be taken more literally, I think. A slow, static-filled monster of a track – not abrasive for the sake of it – instead switching between muffled warmth and the hiss of synths working overtime. Four for the floor
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