Hand-stamped edition of 500
"YOUTH return with a second dose of inexorable House pressure from Paul Bennett aka Duster Valentine, primed for DJs and dancers and a sureshot tip FFO Michael J. Blood, Todd Terry, Ron Trent, Anthony “Shake” Shakir, DJ Sprinkles…
Aye it’s another haul of hard hitting gems pressed to vinyl for the first time, a love note to formative years in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, off his chops at The Haçienda and other legendary Manchester spots. It’s a masterclass in demonstrating the flavours-within-a-theme that emerged from the Chi, 313, and NYC during that pivotal era, and which would eventually light the touch paper of a UK club revolution.
In Duster Valentine’s hands, the sound is presented stripped to salient fundamentals, before it went commercial, ranging from sampler-knuckling garage-house stabbers thru haughty canter and plushest, pendulous grooves. He homes in hard on the exact point when hip hop and electro gave way to house in the Todd Terry-via-Pal Joey style jam ‘Getting’ Dub’, and gives a big salute to Chez N Trent’s rugged, chord-riding haughtiness via Levon Vincent in ‘Hit Me From Behind’.
‘Strobelight Honnies’ leans into the sound’s deepest ends with a perfectly weighted bassline, cold drums and sublime string tension dubbed with hypnotic elegance, where ‘The KatG Chord’ follows with shimmers of Anthony Shakir via Michael J Blood. Suffice it to say they’re all essential and bang on the dollar if you know what’s good.
100% perlers!"
- Boomkat