- Thomas Cox must be a busy man. In addition to operating Infinite State Machine and producing tracks as 1/3 of Pittsburgh Track Authority, he DJs, runs three fledgling labels and maintains a hilariously frank Twitter account. Perhaps this is why, despite starting Love What You Feel back in 2009, he's only just now gotten round to releasing its third record. Or maybe he was just waiting for the right house heads to come together. Indeed, all four of the tracks on Various Artists come from fresh and/or under-exposed producers.
Detroit's Kevin Reynolds kicks things off with the Italo-inspired "Instruction." It's languid and subtle, only the barest of tarnished chords frolicking around the plush bass. Unwavering groove is the key here, and Reynolds has absolutely nailed it. Anaxander's "Moons of Jupiter" is comparably frenetic. Whereas Reynolds' cut hits the spot by sticking determinedly to the one thing, Anaxander's does so by maintaining a logical thread through a brash and messy arrangement of sounds. His jumps from gentle, woozy synths to jarring vamps sound more like a live DJ transition than a studio-orchestrated shift, but they feel entirely suited to the track's rough aesthetic.
Disco Nihilist's "Telephone" is strangely cheap-sounding. Not 8-bit, exactly—its bouncy bassline and chiming chords are too rich for that description—but it has a certain simple charm, its pulsing bells and pitch-bent, Theremin-like samples looping for long periods of time with occasional interludes. Last comes a tune from Pittsburgh Track Authority, who are fast proving to be wearers of multiple hats. Here, it's filthy funk and an unusual, Middle-Eastern- or Indian-sounding hook. "Nite Owl Video" confidently bumps and grinds through its progression, collecting uncommon sounds along the chunk-laden journey. Here more than anywhere else, the ethos of Cox and his labels can be heard: house that's well aware of the past, but refuses to kowtow to it.
Tracklist A1 Kevin Reynolds - Instruction
A2 Anaxander - Moons of Jupiter
B1 Disco Nihlist - Telephone
B2 Pittsburgh Track Authority - Nite Owl Video