Hot off the heals of his stylish ‘Blacksmif – How The Fly Saved The River‘ remix Lorca breaks from his self imposed hibernation and prepares to follow up his highly regarded 2012 single ‘Cant See Higher‘ with the 4 track ‘If I Told You EP’. Unbelievably its been almost 12 months since ‘Cant See Higher’ lodged itself in our record boxes, and its a testament to Lorca’s inate craftmanship that it has never left since. ‘If I Told You’ picks up the threads of those early haunting explorations and gently reminds us that not all club music needs to be about the phattest kick, bass, synth combination. What Lorca may lack in immediate dancefloor prescence he more than compensates for with his exquisite touch for layering complimentary sounds into a ever evolving and rewarding piece of electronic music. Dont be fooled into thinking this is headphone only and trust us when we say that these types of emotive records are every bit as important as the latest banger in the descerning DJs dancefloor arsenal. Look at the impact of records such as Jacques Greene – Arrows, Floating Points – ARP3, Four Tet & Burial’s – Nova and the like can have when played at the right moment.
Lorca – If I Told You EP, includes a remix from the rapidly rising Citizen and is available on Vinyl from the 1st of April and Digitally a few weeks later.
Tags: 2020 Vision, Citizen, Lorca, WeAreBTN
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Another month, another quality release from Maxxi Soundsystem, this time on Maceo Plex’s Ellum Audio. Remixes are supplied by Huxley and Shall Ocin.
‘Stella’s Way’ follows on from previous EP ‘Regrets We Have No Use For‘. Maxxi Soundsystem eschews the classic deep house template and replaces syncopated, staccato bass lines with flowing melodies and great swathes of low end. A snaking melody coils around a 4/4 beat as snippets of vocal hint at the oncoming refrain. Subtle sub movement keeps the energy building whilst a shuddering low end analogue synth forcefully thrusts itself to the fore. It’s another ambitious track that does enough to set it apart from it’s peers without re-inventing the genre.
Huxley takes the original for a nostalgic romp through the 90s in homage to early Garage and Bassline. Here, skipping percussion supports cleverly selected vocal cuts and a descending, all encompassing bass pattern which is occasionally beset with classic Rhodes stabs. Also on remix duties is relative newcomer Shall Ocin, he dials in the funk with a disco beat and a wandering Chromeo-style electro-bass patch. His interpretation injects just enough punch to lift it from the half-hearted nu-disco bar set to the throb of serious dance floors.
‘Stella’s Way’ makes for an excellent all round package, each version suitably different from the next to give them equal appeal in a set. Our preference goes to the title track for its originality but it’s a close call.
Rating 8.5/10
Tags: Ellum Audio, House, Huxley, Maxxi Soundsystem, Single Review, WeAreBTN
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Fellow Brightonian, Maxxi Soundsystem, turns in something pretty special for his debut release on Hypercolour. Billed as a double A side, it comes backed (or rather, additionally fronted) with a remix from Matthew Herbert.
‘Regrets We Have No Use For’ strikes a magical balance between raw dance-floor groove and ear-pleasing melody. Its opening minute and a half is a euphoric, balearic melange of synth washes, tinkling chimes and vocal passes. These elements crescendo into a totally unexpected behemoth of a bass-line, all gnarled and growling. It winds its way menacingly around Name One’s soulful vocals counterpointing the lyric’s gentle melancholy with a muscular, bruising throb. The simplicity of the bass and vocal combination give the track an appealing originality. Being released on a label as respected as Hypercolour isn’t going to hurt the track’s popularity either and with plays from Pete Tong on radio 1 as well you can safely expect to be hearing this a lot over the next few months.
Matthew Herbert’s remix will almost certainly be playing second fiddle to the original. He transforms Maxxi Soundsystem’s restrained power into a kaleidoscopic show of fragmented beats and sliding synths. It wafts through six minutes with a lazy but determined propulsion, no destination in its sight’s but a firm intention of getting there. Elements wash in and out without being heralded by drum fills or white noise while Name One’s vocal loops contentedly over the top. It’s a smooth listen but lacks the required pump to move a dance-floor.
Hypercolour are in fine form at the moment and when you throw Maxxi Soundsystem and Matthew Herbert into the mix it’s no surprise that you’re going to get something special. In many ways ‘Regrets We Have No Use For’ is merely living up to our expectations but when they’re set so high it’s an impressive feat.
Maxxi Soundsystem – Regrets We Have No Use For (Out Oct 8th 2012)
Rating 8/10
Tags: House, Hypercolour, Maxxi Soundsystem, Single Review, WeAreBTN
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Dismantle, a 19 year old producer from Brighton, UK first came to our attention via Riskotheque’s WeAreBTN mix, which featured his ‘Get On It’ track from his self titled Dismantle EP. Since then he has released on Black Gold Records, signed to Shy FX’s Digital Soundboy imprint and gathered fans from various quarters. Most notably Skream, Benga and Annie Mac have been hammering his records and getting him on the phone for chats and exclusive mixes.
Listening to his music its not difficult to see why such heavy weights would be backing his tunes as the Dismantle sound is big, brash and bouncing, perfect for peak time radio shows and DJ sets. However to leave our anaylsis at that would be an injustice to what is undoubtedly a precocious talent. While his tracks are big they are not the usual dubstep meets bass combination, which has got a little tired of late, rather Dismantle has crafted his own unique sound drawing additional influence from garage and dutch house, imagine an urban inner city on the white isle if you will…
Dismantle – The Warp EP drops July 15th on Digital Soundboy.
We’d also recommend checking his recent Annie Mac Mini-mix, 6mins 64 tracks….
Tags: Digital Soundboy, Dismantle, Dubstep, House, WeAreBTN
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