Free Mix Friday

New Single: Tomson & Benedict ft. Bantu Soul - Blind (inc. Alton Miller and Opolopo mixes)

Tone Control Music return with their 10th release from Tomson and Benedict ft. Bantu Soul. Top selling South African artist Bantu Soul exemplifies his catchy song writing, with a powerful vocal performance, over hook driven electronic sounds by Tomson & Benedict.

Tomson & Benedict are a Manchester (UK) based production duo whose partnership spawns a mutated deep house sound, representing influences of old school house, garage and techno with future-thinking electronic synths and programming. Tomson & Benedict have built up a body of production and remix work involving names such as Paul Randolph, Atjazz, Flowriders and Paris Brightledge. Their discography includes releases together on Freerange, Urban Torque, Hudd Traxx and Kolour.

Bantu Soul has been performing and releasing music in his native South Africa for over a decade, with his style evolving from RnB to Soulful House. Having won Metro FM’s Best Male vocalist in South Africa, his most notable contribution to international house music was through a Black Coffee remix of "Even Though", taken from his debut album. Since then Bantu Soul has collaborated widely and is currently working on his next studio album. High quality remixes follow to cater for a range of vibes. Alton Miller turns in a deep and woody organic mix for the late night heads, while Opolopo turns the song into a modern boogie monster! Throw in a heady Telepathy dub and creative Instrumental edit from Tomson and Benedict themselves and the technophile’s are catered for to inspiringly high standards too – in short, electronic soul of all styles for the modern dance floor.

Tomson & Benedict ft. Bantu Soul - Blind (inc. Alton Miller and Opolopo mixes) by Tone Control Music

5 Magazine Review: Tomson ft. Diamondancer - Tap The Core

Something I rarely hear mentioned when lamenting the rise of 320 kilobits per second and the demise of the record store, the ruin of vinyl and everything that's gone with it is how easy it is now for a sound to crosspollinate. Once upon a time, you could work in isolation for years without knowing really if anyone liked or even cared what you were up to. A story told to me by Mike Dunn mentioned that Armando Gallop knew he was being cheated by a record label because he worked in a store and saw how many units were being moved (the implication here: that those who didn't have that kind of access had no idea).

Out of all those names who made a just a small handful of records on Trax, DJ International and the like: how many gave up just because they figured (wrongly) that they weren't getting anywhere?

So one of the most powerful benefits of this era is that kindred spirits can connect and even collaborate without existing for one solitary second in the same time zone. Take for example this release from label co-owner Tomson on his Development Music imprint. It's a collaboration with Diamondancer, a poet from Detroit that's been featured on labels from Still Music to Sonar Kollectiv, and featuring Mixmode's Delano Smith (another Detroit product), mixing with UK fellas Eddie Leader, At One and of course Tomson himself. Couldn't happen back in the day - and it's often a disaster when it happens even now - but works like a charm here, gathering an impressive braintrust of beat technicians for this deep and techy five track release.

The original mix is a storm of erupting chords, which go well with the rough spoken-word style vocal from Diamondancer. Delano Smith's remix has that hard, straight-ahead edge you naturally associate with his productions. In particular, I liked the stuttering organ effect, which plays well with the bass line (I thought it'd work on my last nerve after about 20 seconds; after about two minutes, I'd grown to love it.)

Leader & Yuriano's Remix is the most melodic of the package - it's kind of amazing how close Eddie can get to an "authentic" Chicago Deep House sound, which so many folks that grew up on the stuff from afar confuse with a kind of audio Sominex. The drums are really live here; the swirling keys worthy of a Larry Heard production. Finally there's At One, whose production is in the slower, trippier and dreamy fashion. I like the vocal mix better, but I suspect the Dub will find favor with DJs due to it being so easy to mix in and out of. It's sort of the perfect "bookend" track, which makes it a nice way to wrap up this release.

[ - Review by Terry Matthew / May 2011 - ]

Available: Digitally from Traxsource or Juno Download.

Tomson ft. Diamondancer: Tap The Core EP

Tomson ft. Diamondancer - Tap the Core (inc Delano Smith, Eddie Leader & At One remixes) by Development Manchester

Tomson Feat. Diamondancer - Tap The Core (Incl. Delano Smith & At One Mixes)

Development Music's first release for 2011.

Development Music return with their first offering of 2011, a single from label co-owner Tomson featuring the poetic talents of Detroit's spoken word sensation Diamondancer and remixes from Delano Smith, Eddie Leader and At One.

01	Original Mix (7:30)	Deep House		$1.99
02	Delano Smith Remix (6:08)	Deep House		$1.99
03	Leader & Yuriano Remix (6:13)	Deep House		$1.99
04	At One Remix (6:45)	Deep House		$1.99
05	Original Instrumental (7:28)	Deep House		$1.99
06	Delano Smith Instrumental (6:08)	Deep House		$1.99
07	At One Dub (7:15)	Deep House		$1.99

Tomson feat. Diamondancer - Tap The Core (Incl. Delano Smith & At One Mixes) - Traxsource.com - Download Underground House and Electronic Music in WAV and MP3 format

DJ Feedback

Deetron - ''i really love the original mix, it's great!!'

Laurent Garnier - Stunning work by Delano Smith -- will hammer this

Osunlade - ''diggin the delano smith & at one remixes.. good work!''

Craig Smith - ''Really feeling the Delano Smith & At One mixes, super deep.''

Terry Farley - ''ace music chaps - the Delano smith mixes are amazing as is the At One - 9/10''

Dominic Capello (Sub Club) – ''Fuckin love this!''

Fabio Genito – ''i've been rocking Delano mixes as well as At One Dub...proper DEEP stuff''

Moodymanc – ''Fat release! Really like the vocal.... All mixes are great but Delano and
At One are the players for me!!!''

Mike Fossati - ''Incredibly deep and sexy yet full of gorgeous melodies - a sure fire anthem...''

Rainer trueby - ''a nice slice of poetry house!''

Groove Assassin - ''Slammin stuff yet again from DM ! Heavy support!''

Kiko Navarro - ''the Delano mix is wicked, i will play it for sure, At one dub is good too, thanks!''

Mad Mats - ''Delano Smith remix is great...will be in my sets guaranteed!''

Charles Webster - ''Delano smith Mix is very cool''

Lars Behrenroth - ''Delano's Instrumental is my pick but all mixes are hot!''

Simbad - ''Nice EP guys !!! Delano's mix is the one 4 me , killer shhhhhh, playin / chartin''

Scope - ''original mix is dope!''

Vinny Da Vinci - ''Pure deepness right here!!!''

Matt Masters (Freerange) - "This is really nice. A wicked package. The remixes are nice but the

original is the best"

With further dj support from Danny Tenaglia, Phil Asher and Slam

Tomson feat. Diamondancer - Tap The Core (Incl. Delano Smith & At One Mixes) - Traxsource.com - Download Underground House and Electronic Music in WAV and MP3 format