Wow…what an album. German techno head Marc Romboy continues to thrive after more than 20 years after establishing Le Petit Prince, his first label, and emerging as a DJ in Dusseldorf. His latest album for Systematic, ‘Shades’, is an enormous 32-track effort with hints of classic Detroit and Chicago house thrown in among the inescapable European vibes of other jams – of which some are up to 8 years old. His ‘Eurasia’ release with Brazilian techno legend Gui Boratto features on the record for example, and this was released back in 2007 – similarly ‘In My Mind’, a standout on Romboy’s 2006 debut LP ‘Gemini’, gets shelf-time on the new album. There’s a lot of weird shit in here, too – especially in the third disc. While nobody can dispute this veteran’s talent, maybe he could have done without the last ten tracks of which he described as being full of “noise, machine rhythms and crazy sounds”. Nonetheless, 20/30 tunes on ‘Shades’ are great, and he describes the first two discs as “deep groovy and soulful,” and “melodic, trippy and warm”. A must-have album for any long-time house/techno fans.

Tracklist:
01. Don’t Stop (07:21)
02. Shake It Again (with Fyta & Ray Wilbern) (07:18)
03. Sl Mirage (07:48)
04. Freakin’ (with Blake Baxter — updated original) (06:56)
05. Marc Romboy vs Robert Owens — In My Mind (06:45)
06. L’arc-En-Ciel (album version) (06:41)
07. No Sports (with KiNK) (06:17)
08. Sterac & Steve Rachmad — Astronotes (Marc Romboy Treatment) (07:51)
09. The Juan Mclean — One Day (Marc Romboy remix) (07:49)
10. Terrence Parker — Love’s Got Me High (Marc Romboy’s Systematic Soul mix) (06:41)
11. KiNK vs Marc Romboy — Delusion Of The Enemy (original mix) (08:13)
12. The Octopus (03:58)
13. Marc Romboy vs Blake Baxter — Muzik (version 1) (09:29)
14. Sunburst (08:45)
15. Marc Romboy — Lost (with Tyree Cooper — original) (06:25)
16. Detroit Grand Pubahs — Club Sandwiches (Marc Romboy’s systematic soul remix) (07:06)
17. Sono — Keep Control (Marc Romboy’s moog journey) (07:18)
18. More Muzik (original mix) (07:20)
19. The Advent (original mix) (06:47)
20. The Hazard (01:28)
21. Max Cooper — Raw (Marc Romboy’s sub attack) (07:55)
22. GusGus — Hateful (Marc Romboy & Dimitri Andreas remix) (10:23)
23. The Noise (05:03)
24. Marc Romboy & Bajka — Reciprocity (08:48)
25. Model 1601 (08:32)
26. Iceland (09:13)
27. Marc Romboy vs Gui Boratto — Eurasia (Marc’s mix) (09:59)
28. The Awakening (original mix) (08:05)
29. Rodriguez Jr & Marc Romboy — Lac De Nivelles (07:45)
30. Stella (07:45)
31. Sonora (07:56)
32. Marc Romboy — Where Would You Be (with Blake Baxter — synthapella) (06:18)