JB. Magazine

Virgo — A seminal house album from 1989, re-released through Rush Hour

Inspired and powered by the current issue of Eye Magazine — #76, their Music Design Special Issue, a new part of our musicdesgin column had to be done once again. And after a couple of weeks, I finally managed to pick up some records from my shelf at Hardwax that had been waiting there for a while. So I have some newer stuff here plus two older examples that have already been in my collection, but old or new, that doesn’t matter anyway. Some great artworks, nice selection of colors in some of the designs or nice details like a piece of cloth on a stamped paper sleeve. And of course: some really stunning tunes! Have a look and listen as I included a few soundfiles.



Virgo, the self-titled LP from 1989, originally released on Radical Records. Re-release by the label of the … err, hour: Rush Hour. Really, they are doing everything right these days. Very productive, very inspiring. Artwork is uncredited. Stream the tracks here.





Falty DL — All In The Place, as well on Rush Hour, actually the first release on the sublabel RH Direct Current was by Falty DL. No. 2 by Cosmin TRG has been in a previous post here but that Falty DL, don’t know why, hadn’t made it to my home before. I love these tunes, they have so much space and levels. Artwork must be by Marco of Hand Of God, looks like the same as that CosminTRG release.

Falty DL — St. Marks:






Oracy — Bass Mood. All Mojuba records come in a paper sleeve, stamped and have a piece of cloth, felt, duct tape or anything similar on it. This time it is a thick piece of cloth with a nice fabric structure. The releases get special by the energy and effort that the Mojuba guys put into making their records.

A mild mover by … Oracy — Funk Advice




Ramadanman on Loefah’s imprint Swamp81. Another huge track by Ramadanman: Work Them. Goodness! Typography by producer and Swamp81 founder Loefah and Ashes57. Nothing special but as the sound, clear and massive.





Roska — Squark on Rinse. Actually it took a bit too long for this track to be avialable on vinyl as it has been around for a while and thanks to Roska’s self promotional power, I heard this track very often. But still fresh, so is the artwork by Give Up Art. I have been talking about them a lot here on JB. and next week, Stuart from Give Up Art will select for this column. Great!







Shake — Frictionalism, Limited Edition with an unreleased track on Rush Hour. This was my personal Christmas present last year. What a great and valuable compilation and one of the most brilliant ideas to help this exceptional musician getting the coverage and attention he deserves after so many years making music. With this release and the associated PR, Rush Hour opened a kind of new chapter for Shake. A perfect package in its simplicity. Four 12″es and one additional 7″, all with the same paper sleeve and typography with that vibrant purple shade and white, labels in blabk with white type and purple elements. All togehter in a shiny plastic sleeve and a sticker to open like seal. Artwork uncredited, somewhere from the RH camp.
What I don’t really understand is, that Rush Hour started to release standard 12″es with generic sleeves from the same cuts soon after. That drops the value of this limited edition a bit. But thinking of the availability of Shake’s music on vinyl, that’s absolutely legitimate…