#DiggingInTheShelves No. 36
Francis Jilla & Johnny Drama - Just Another Boot / Can We Talk?
Guess Who (2007)
https://www.discogs.com/release/933040

Guess Who was a Guesthouse sublabel mostly for bootleg remixes by usual suspects under pseudonyms. This one's from Frankie J and John Mork, better known then as The Sound Republic.

Side A (*) takes us deep into sampling Inception. It's a boot of "Just Another Groove" by Mighty Dub Katz, which in turn heavily sampled "Disco Juice" by Cloud One. I can't lie: this version kicks the ass of the "original". I'm surprised it still sounds so fresh. Class A tool right here.

Side B doesn't fall far behind. The source of this one escapes me, but the phased and distorted bassline fits the rest like a glove. This one goes hard.

All this on a loud 45, too. Dope 12". I can see (or rather hear) why I was a major TSR fan.

Selected: Just Another Boot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjLfdBFiLeo

#DiggingInTheShelves No. 35
Jerome Sydenham Presents Jania Carvahlo - Deconstructed House (Phase 2)
Ibadan (2001)
https://www.discogs.com/release/14568

One of the lesser hyped Ibadan releases I guess, done in collaboration with the Brazilian artist Jãnia Carvahlo. Can't remember buying this, looks like a second hand dig.

The concept is "deep house with live instruments" and what you hear is what you get. Smooth guitar and upright bass, mandatory percussion, chanty vocals. Extremely "Balearic". Brazilian Balearic? Is that a thing? Instrumental dub on the flip.

Pleasant and inoffensive, not particularly innovative. Could work in semi-chillout daytime set. Odd choice of 33 1/3 RPM pressing with half of each side empty, though. Why not 45?

Selected: Deconstructed House (Phase 2)
https://ferrer-sydenham.bandcamp.com/album/deconstructed-house-phase-2

#DiggingInTheShelves No. 34
Various - Various Artists Sampler
Robsoul Recordings (2009)
https://www.discogs.com/release/1796379

Speaking of stuff I bought a lot of in the late 00s: Phil Weeks' Robsoul was a French house powerhouse back then. They're still going, too.

To kick off the sampler, Monoman makes use of the well known Carrie Lucas "Dance with You" strings. If you want to play something less obvious than Armand van Helden, there you go. Nonfiction follows up with typical noughties bitcrushed sample cut-ups but pairs them with a rubbery synth bassline. Nice one.

It gets even better on the flip with Joss Moog's "Drivin' on Up". My favourite for sure. It's just a Rhodes loop set to a basic house beat but, really, what else would you need? Again a case of "less is more".

Highly usable house DJ fodder. Robsoul could cearly manage both quantity and quality at the time.

Selected: Joss Moog - Drivin' on Up
https://robsoulrecordings.bandcamp.com/track/drivin-on-up-joss-moog

#DiggingInTheShelves No. 33
Vernon & DaCosta - On Fire
A Second Smell (2008)
https://www.discogs.com/release/1432213

Belgian house tools on a cheekily named (pun very much intended) sublabel of Aroma. I was buying a ton of 12"s like this in '07-09.

"On Fire" is basically an edit of "Nights" by Billy Ocean. I like the original and recall getting some mileage out of this. Thanks to the gimmick-free production, I feel it could even work in today's house sets without sounding too antiquated.

"Last Night Was Crazy" goes down the route of chopped-up jazz samples in the then-new-school Chicago style. Much more a product of it's time and a tad too cheesy. I like the sax breakdowns though.

Decent but not remarkable, some degree of contemporary DJ use potential in one of the tunes. It's OK.

Selected: On Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D77E-HueV30

#DiggingInTheShelves No. 32
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - The Makin' Magick II Album
Spells On The Telly (2021)
https://www.discogs.com/release/21806209

Time to work through one of the megaprojects from the hyper-prolific plunderphonics outsider. I'd describe her(*) music as three radios simultaneously tuned to 80s/90s/00s retro pop channels, placed next to a TV set blaring a teen drama. Not for everybody, but Sabrina hasn't gathered a cult following for nothing.

Of her catalogue of albums, this is one of my favourites. Straightforward pop anthems, heavily sample-based. The sampling work is pretty clever, especially in the vocal tracks often stitched together from a wide range of unexpected sources. "Being Alone", "Lose Myself", "Each Time" and "Music" are clear standouts.

In the end, what you get is 2.5 hours of never-ceasing saccharine lo-fi wall of sound. Love it or hate it, I'm in the former camp.

Selected: Being Alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ2mSK_ydLc

#DiggingInTheShelves No. 31
Oded Peled & Juho Kahilainen - Out Of Home EP
Adrenogroov (2004)
https://www.discogs.com/release/374021

Another Finland-adjacent release, this time on the techier side. Done by the well known booking agency head and the Jyväskylä acid aficionado.

"Afterdam" is the star of the show. With its Detroitish strings served in a high-energy package, it's a simply joyous track of which I have no intention to ever get tired. Not having this as the A side in 45RPM is a crime or at the very least a misdemeanor.

The rest is.. fine, I guess. "Out of Home" is a serviceable tech tool sporting a nice lead synth. Wince Watson amps up the club friendliness in his remix with a focus on percussions. These pale in comparison to the aforementioned centerpiece though.

One classic banger is enough to earn this a permanent spot on my shelf.

Selected: Afterdam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuc3hJ_71l8

My quick C64 PETSCII gfx entry for #revision2026 called "Stamps Back". Unexpectedly ended on 4th place in the ASCII/ANSI/PETSCII compo.

Greets for the crew behind the excellent Revision invite for inspiring this. I had to exercise my artistic liberty to properly orient the Evilbot logo though ;)

This was the 1st textmode gfx I've done in 15+ years and the first PETSCII in ~36 years. I intend to do more of these with more effort in the future.

https://demozoo.org/graphics/389681/