While Exchange Bureau Music might not be the most well-known label in Detroit, it’s definitely had its fair share of notable releases.  Alton Miller, Ibex, and Kansas City’s favorite son Pat Nice (who has a remix on Midnite Jackers’ If You Only Knew ep) have all released on the label.  This time around, Tony Ollivierra gets back into his Ibex guise to follow up the outstanding 360 EP on Rush Hour with four more slices of quality Detroit-infused house music.

“Panacea” opens up with John Tejada-ish synths and a simple, pumping rhythm just before keys twinkle in and the space disco is underway.  While there’s quite a bit going, the production is crisp, helping to contribute to the sustainability of the piece over seven and half minutes.

“Soulmate” offers a tougher, grittier synth bedrock amid a more persistently dirty drum track.  Once the higher-end pad drops and strings kick in,  things get a little overwhelming, but it falls in line with a lot of the house side of Detroit  - uptempo and pushing dancers without being overly aggressive.  Again, another seven-plus minute track that would be suited for a late-night crowd that’s not afraid of a little bit higher bpm.

The back half of the ep starts of with the drum intro to “Phoenix”, a little bit of cowbell and then some very nice propulsive pads.  The lead-in culminates in an insistent key line that changes just enough to introduce the groove before a tempered saw synth fills up the mid-range.  At just under five minutes, “Phoenix” feels like the most accessible track on the album, delivering a foreshadow of the climax early and then working towards an outcome before fading out.  This is definitely one I wouldn’t mind having another couple of minutes of.

The title track closes out the ep with a wonderful Aubrey-esque liquid funk groove and a spoken word piece.  The bass is big dumb simple, giving easy back-and-forth instructions to the butt while the feet are counting out Olliviera’s drum programming.  Everything else will be following the layers of pads that drop in with a little bit less insistency than found elsewhere on the ep, and probably the better for it.  “Eden” has a sense of maturity to it, of being at home on an adult dancefloor, one full of dancers who know who they’re going home with at the end of the night.

With appearances on Planet E, Transmat, and Intuit-Solar’s Comin From the D compilation to his name and a Discogs entry that goes back to 1996, there’s no point in calling Olliviera part of the new wave of Detroit house producers.  His sound calls to mind a denser, house-thinking variation of Model 500’s cosmic disco-symphonies or some offworld John Tejada/Recloose collaboration than it is to either the stripped tech-house of Curtiss/Troxler or the electro-funk of Omar S, Patrice Scott, or Moodymann.

After an almost seven-year lapse between releases,  Olliviera titled his 2008 ep The Second Coming, and both Eden and 360 continue to serve as a re-emergence for an artist who’s got roots as well as a re-introduction for fans who are just now beginning to examine the years of music between the Third Wave and the New Wave of Detroit producers.

Here’s to hoping the quick turn-around between these two recent EPs means there’s going to be a lot more Olliviera and Ibex in our future.