Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Heels & Souls Recordings hit release number nine, looking across the pond to Toronto in the mid-'90s to reissue two blissfully Balearic house gems from 100th Monkey. Alongside remastered versions of ‘Raindance’ and ‘Nyika Nyika’, the flip features a pumping remix of ‘Raindance’ courtesy of dream house hero Manuel Darquart and a previously unreleased ‘90s stunner, ‘River Ride’.

100th Monkey were most known under their Boomtang Boys moniker, a killer Canadian production trio and record label. In the early ‘90s, with a release already out as Fun Wow, brothers Tony and Paul Grace were introduced to Rob DeBoer. With respective backgrounds as a drummer, DJ and keys player and inspired by the sounds coming across from the UK, they began producing releases for the label under a variety of different monikers. From the street soul grooves of ‘Love Trip’ as Boomtang Boys, to the hip house flavours of D.S.B. and the progressive rhythms of The Riders of the Soundguard.

Their only release as 100th Monkey though is a jewel in this Canadian crown. Cooked up in their home studio, packed with synths, samplers and drum machines, ‘Raindance’ is a hit of summertime heat that instantly transports you to sandy shores. A slice of mid-tempo, Balearic deep house anchored by shuffling hats and a spine-tingling bassline, the African vocal samples, dreamy strings and goose-bumping chords merge to send you floating out across the horizon.

Picking up the pace, ‘Nyika Nyika’ is another dream-inducing house cut, equally adept at soundtracking a sunset, as it is at powering a dancefloor. Shimmering arps and looped African vocal samples glisten through the haze, with a punchy bass and enveloping strings reeling you in.

On the B side, Manuel Darquart puts his trademark spin on ‘Raindance’, looping up elements from the OG with a dash of that Darquart hot sauce. The kick gets an injection, steamy synthlines are laid down and a salacious sax is slipped in the mix.

Finally, plucked from the 100th Monkey vaults, ‘River Ride’ is an unreleased cut from 1996. Washing over you with a wave of floating pads, trickling arps, a laidback breakbeat and grooving bassline, it’s the perfect warm-down or warmup material, that rightly sees the light of day for the very first time.

Licensed from The Boomtang Boys and remastered from the original DATs by Justin Drake.

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