toshiya kawasaki: i'm starting to feel okay vol 7

Rapturous, lovely, and brilliantly handpicked -- the seventh installment of the I'm Starting to Feel Okay compilation series is once again tremendous. Over two CDs, it features diverse, grooving music covering house, techno, jazz, soul, cosmic, disco, and beyond, without strictly falling under any pure definition of a genre. Mule Musiq and Endless Flight founder Toshiya Kawasaki made sure that the quality is high-flying, selecting crown jewels from known artists like Frank and Tony, Oskar Offermann, and Fred P as well as promising newcomers like Nicolai Toma, Snacks, and Johannes Klingebiel. The first disc lifts off with an exclusive get-down-deep boogie house gem by gifted Japanese producer Sauce81. It's followed by Prins Thomas's "Rainbow Disco," originally released to much applause on Endless Flight in early 2015. Strategy's "Mother Nature" precedes Eddie C's flute-driven "Flying Blue," taken from his 2015 Solaris EP on Endless Flight. More funk-infected sounds follow, as Brooklyn's finest DJ and producer Jacques Renault delivers with "Don't Need to Know," a deep, fine-crafted tune with pulsating bass and blissful key melodies. After a great rolling arrangement by Lord of the Isles, full of wonky bass power and dry drum beats that DJs like Rebolledo love to play, some newcomers get room to spread their talent. Italy's Rubini shows off his gift as a producer of dark atmospheres with a warm analog swing. Nicolai Toma and Musk follow with tracks that originally saw the light of the day via 2015 EPs on Endless Flight and Mule Musiq respectively, bewitching with hauntingly soulful music full of sexuality and killer low-slung house class. Disc one closes with an electrified knockout punch by Japanese producer Kuniyuki and the driving house lullaby "Leguan" by German producer Konstantin Sibold and his buddy Leif Müller. The second disc features just one previously released track, "Amedeo," by New York City's slow-mo house connoisseurs Frank and Tony. The other ten arrangements are exclusives by renowned musicians like Fred P, Oskar Offermann, Frankey & Sandrino, Aril Brikha & Sebastian Mullaert, Fort Romeau, DJ Jenifa aka Gold Panda, and Australia's Bell-Towers (featuring Miss Midday), as well as some lesser-known artists like the promising Cologne-based producer Johannes Klingebiel, Berlin-based deep house duo Kim Brown, and Snacks. Each track challenges the common definition of a genre blueprint with cosmic excursions, hypnotic rhythms, quaking basslines, spiritual synths, moody chords, and freewheeling jazz instrumentation.