- Starting a label may have been a natural next step for Mister Saturday Night, a New York nightlife mainstay helmed by DJs Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin, but by no means was it guaranteed to work. MSN have always had a more attentive ear to the ground than most, as evidenced by their afternoon offshoot Mister Sunday, a family-friendly affair that invites a crowd of potentially under-served dance music fans—low-key revelers, ravers who grew up and had kids, and maybe even a few kids who will grow up to throw raves.
Brothers And Sisters, MSN's first full-length, is a slick and multi-faceted presentation that defines the label as a merry band of oddballs. Though the label is still in its youth, Carter and Harkin have already proven to be shrewd curators with a fastidious business model. Brothers And Sisters rounds up the offerings to date after an even ten 12-inch releases, shuffling barn-burners like General Ludd's hyper "Woo Ha" with crunchy deep house tunes and the occasional interlude of beat-less noise.
Some of these tracks, like Alex Burkat's "Shower Scene," have been floating around for a few years now, but the label is also offering a vinyl pressing of the collection's previously unreleased material, which includes Dark Sky's freakishly muscular "IYP" and two tracks from the eccentric Brooklyn trio Archie Pelago, whose jazzy noodlings and unhurried tempos connect this scene to another kind of New York City loft party: the freeform jazz of 1970s Soho.
The label also pays homage to its early hit, Anthony Naples' "Mad Disrespect," which closes out the second disc with a satisfying purr. That track's success out of the gate was the first sign that The Mister's roster would be full of serious fun, and its simmering appeal hasn't fizzled out in the two years since. But Brothers And Sisters isn't the type of compilation with one or two star turns. It's inclusive almost to a fault—with each disc stretching over an hour, it's a lot to take in. But if you have a free afternoon, you couldn't spend it in better company.
TracklistCD1
01. Dark Sky – In Brackets
02. Archie Pelago – Brown Oxford
03. Lumigraph – Yacht Cruiser
04. General Ludd – Woo Ha
05. Keita Sano – People Are Changing
06. Hank Jackson – Cole’s Lullaby
07. Hank Jackson – Shave
08. Anthony Naples – Moscato B
09. General Ludd – C
10. Archie Pelago – Cinema Club
11. Boya – Dawn Corner
12. Alex Burkat – Shower Scene
13. Dark Sky – Rare Bloom
CD2
01. Gunnar Haslam – Kenosha (Amytal)
02. Dark Sky – Clear
03. General Ludd – Brothers And Sisters
04. Archie Pelago – The House of Haab
05. Gunnar Haslam – Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom
06. Dark Sky – IYP
07. Keita Sano – Ingram
08. Boya – The Idler
09. Lumigraph – Cape Horn
10. Keita Sano – Drummer Trix
11. Archie Pelago – Frederyck Swerl
12. Anthony Naples – Mad Disrespect