Roman Stange + Craig Kuna - You'll House Me? (Handmade Recordings)

Handmade Recordings’ next release “You’ll House Me?” is the latest production from the prolific San Francisco duo of Roman Stange and Craig Kuna. Together Stange and Kuna have worked on remixes for releases on Blipswitch Digital and Claude Von Stroke’s Mothership imprint, while Stange has produced material on his own for the Auralism label and Kuna regularly collaborates with renowned bay area techno party [KONTROL]. On “You’ll House Me?” Stange and Kuna reach back to their influences while keeping their feet firmly planted within today’s house music sound. The track opens with tough a four-on-the-floor kick as well as reversed strings and vocals. This develops into a deep, bassy monster with snares and toms that roll and swing, accompanied by metallic chords. Fragmented samples from the acappellas to Rhythm Controll’s “My House” and The NYC Peech Boys’ “Life Is Something Special” wheel around in the mix creating a swirling narrative on house music’s former glories as well as dance floor triumphs yet to come. Next, a remix of “You’ll House Me?” is provided by German producer Franklin De Costa who takes the rolling drums and places a low-slung, understated bass line under them. He adds delayed chords that are woven with the vocal sample, layering the concoction over the bass and drum spine. This all propells the remix towards a gorgeous mid-track breakdown that should lift the dance floor to another level in the early AM. Both cuts’ seamless mix of retro and modern house music sounds should give “You’ll House Me?” a prime place in the virtual crate for quite a while … dig in.

Alland Byallo - “Awesome! Top notch stuff from two top notch dudes. Franklin’s remix ain’t nothin to F with too. Can’t wait to play that.”
Dead Seal - “A really great release. This is some old school sh*t. Trippin’!”
DJ Harri (Sub Club) - “I’m liking both mixes.”
Murray Richardson (Rebel Waltz) - “The original mix for me … nutz!”
TJ Norris (Resident Advisor) - “This is deep future-house with a trippy beat that rips right on through to the other side.”
Louis Hughes (6th Sense Music) - “This is nice, deep, twisted tech-house. This is a great label from what I have heard so far.”
Brandon Bass (Hub City Music) - “Loving the classic vibe in this. Great production all around.”
Tony D’Onghia (Radio Koper-Capodistria) - “Very interesting, cliché-free re-interpretation of the formula.”
Cheets (Global Dance Sessions) - “Nice, Lots of flashbacks from this!”
DJ Dennis (Selekta Recordings) - “I absolutely adore all the different ‘house’ samples they used. I can totally envision the sweaty dance floor grooving to this in a San Francisco venue, too. Hotness.”

Available now from Juno Download and Beatport.

Michael Ruris & Roman Stange - Glow EP (Handmade Recordings) →

Introducing Handmade Recordings, a San Francisco-based label embracing a DIY ethic and its city’s history of mixing and matching electronic music styles. The label had its beginnings within the Subculture parties dating back to the year 2000. These parties were known for booking DJs of differing styles, with house, electro-influenced sounds, and techno all sharing time in the booth. As the label developed, its founders strove to capture this diversity, mix it with an old school aesthetic, and apply it to a digital label. With almost monthly releases issued for over a year, Handmade Recordings is on its way to becoming an established staple of the west coast house music scene.

Handmade is pleased to present “Glow" from bay area producer Michael Ruris. Hooked on San Francisco’s distinctive house music sound in its 90’s heyday, Ruris began recording and performing on his own and as part of production teams dotRock and Ribbon. His sound is refreshingly organic and very much influenced by the classic tracks of west coast house music. “Glow” showcases this angle with a chunky, tech-house flow underneath an appealing vocal hook and some understated, funky guitar hits. It’s a fully written song that feels equally at home in peak time club sets, late night radio shows, or early morning ‘back to mine’ sessions. Also included is the Power Bass Line Mix which does what it says on the tin: the bass is amplified and the groove intensified for a little more electricity as needed.

Handmade also has included a bonus track in this package, the War No More Remix of “Come To Me" by Roman Stange. Stange originally hails from the Detroit area, having been in attendence for many early Richie Hawtin sets at The Shelter and on the dancefloor repeatedly at the famed Music Institute. He’s contributed tracks and remixes to the likes of Auralism, Mothership, Aftersoul, and Blipswitch Digital. Now in San Francisco, Stange is working on a techno project with [KONTROL]’s Craig Kuna and hosts multiple club nights. His contribution here is a throbbing after-hours techno track with various nods to a classic sound in arrangement, style, and a familiar vocal sample at the breakdown.

Johnwaynes - “Good house stuff! Handcrafted really well.”
Onionz - “‘Glow’ original mix is rockin’.”
Scott Harrington (Savoir Faire Musique) - “Nice raw sounds, great for my peak time sets.”
Danny Ward (Dubble D / 2020:Vision) “I like the quirky vibe of ‘Glow’!”
Al Bradley (3AM Recordings) - “Great stuff here. The Power Bassline Mix is a killer, will get loads of play from that. Wicked stuff. Also feeling the ‘War No More’ remix, too. Powerful grooves!”
Louis Hughes (Two Deep / 1999 Recordings) - “Now we are talking … This is proper Tech House! Full support.”
Jota Wagner (Lunatic Jazz) - “Really diggin’ the old school techno feel of ‘Come To Me’ … this will be played.”
Joey Silvero (Distant People) - “‘Glow’ is a cool track … Reminds of the 80’s.”
Tom Hoch (Mile High House) - “Floppy weird house.”
Rob Pearson (Evasive Records) - “Full support on these … Good stuff indeed!”
Bobi (Global Movement on Club FM) - “I love the Power Bassline Mix. I’ll definitely play and chart this one! Great stuff.”
Eric Davenport (Guesthouse) - “I’m digging the groove and built up tension that ‘Come To Me’ delivers.”
DJ Ingo (BOP FM, New Zealand) - “Excellent quality production. I’m diggin’ the funky guitar riffs.”
Jasper Gape (Nerdy Frames blog) - “Damn, this is good!”

Available now from Juno Download and Beatport