Guest Mix

Deadlines are kind of getting on top of me here at White Noise HQ, but I've got a guest mix from resident Moth to tide y'all over. Expect normal service to resume within the next week or so.

The mix is dark and moody, including some choice cuts by Bok Bok & Tom Trago, XI, 5KINANDBONE5 and Boddika, with some tasty unreleased material courtesy of Biome and some huge tips courtesy of Dark Sky and Kommune1, which will be seeing White Noise reviews shortly.

Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Elsewhere – The Espers

Sin City Status – The Clave

Boddika – Soul What

Bok Bok & Tom Trago – Pom Clash

Dark Sky – Shades

Artifact – Turtle Flight

XI – Squeeze

Biome – Driveway

Kommune1 – Motus

5KINANDBONE5 - Reset

Chesus – Goodfoot

Label: Ten Thousand Yen

90s House throwback isn’t that hard to find at the moment, but discerning readers will point out it’s hard to find done well. The deceptively simple constructions of feel-good diva house are seen as a good way to get into the game, but we can’t all be Bicep, and the majority of offerings sound trite and derivative. The key, perhaps, is lineage. If you’ve got a solid grounding in dance music, you can do 90s house well, a theory exemplified by seasoned producer Chesus. Although you might not recognise the name, the Welsh producer might be more recognisable as the ‘C’ from garage-obsessed C.R.S.T. On the Goodfoot EP, out on Doc Daneeka’s quality Ten Thousand Yen label, Chesus comes up with the goods, four blazing classic house tracks with some choice collaborators.

Goodfoot

The EP opens with its finest cut in the form of title track Goodfoot, a collab with labelmate Didz and the underrated Organ Grinder. An unstoppably infectious piano riff reigns supreme over a pitch-perfect vocal sample and a pleasingly dramatic bassline. On the second track The Organ Grinder returns for the more low-key 4am Dub, with a bouncing bassline, soft pads and a hard kick. The whole track is completed by a powerful organ stab that elevates this one above your average house throwback.

Chesus’ solo efforts aren’t quite as remarkable, but still bring big vibes to the dancefloor. Feelings is a deeper, heads-down affair with a series of vocals that snake their way through colourful synths and a bouncing bassline, but ultimately fails to conjure the energy of the first two tracks. The same could be said for 3am Dub, which is essentially a deeper reworking of the core elements of the earlier Organ Grinder collaboration. Goodfoot won’t turn any heads for those disenchanted by the return of 90s house, but for the fans there aren’t many currently doing it better.

7/10

George Fitzgerald – Needs You

Label: Hypercolour

Although George Fitzgerald isn’t new to the scene, 2012 has definitely been his year. After the stunning Shackled announced a real force at the start of the year, Fitzgerald has gone from strength to strength, with a series of classy remixes and production gigs as well as the huge Child EP, which bred club anthems Child and Lights Out. Here the prolific producer takes to the unstoppable Hypercolour imprint for what is perhaps his best, and indisputably his biggest release to date.

Needs You (Clip)

Needs You is the enormous A-side that is destined to dominate dancefloors; with softly insistent pads building to a showstopping three-note bassline that assails the ears alongside breathily seductive vocals and a classic jacking house beat. The B-side, Every Inch, is a moodier affair and could be perhaps called the spiritual successor to Lights Out; offering the same hushed tension as this rolling house number unfurls over persistent synth-work and an incredibly catchy vocal line. Remix duties are capably supplied by scene stalwart Deetron, who breaks the B-side down into a symphony of bleeping synths and whirring atmospherics. It’s a much slower build than the original tracks, and surely destined for the deeper end of the house dancefloors, but the remix certainly doesn’t want for quality. Still, you’ll keep this release for the two ace original tracks, which seem to suggest that Fitzgerald is one of the most consistent house producers in the current scene.

7.5/10

Jack Dixon – E / Find Shelter

Label: Hotflush

It’s good to know people can turn things around. Although Jack Dixon has been knocking around the scene for a year or so, his releases never really offered enough dance drive to truly hit home. At the same time, the releases of the once-lethal Hotflush haven’t been up to their usual standard (especially those of label-head Scuba, whose former inability to put out a bad record has been quite dramatically turned on its head in 2012). But with his Hotflush debut, Dixon absolutely smashes it, issuing the label's most raw and vital release in months in the form of two gorgeous slices of bassy house.

 

EP Clips

Dixon proves his finger is right on the pulse of the current scene, elegantly fusing the detailed atmospherics of the post-dubstep world with the bounciest of house beats in E, all augmented by a bouncing bassline. Here Dixon cranks up the tension like a pro, all euphoric rising synthlines and a restless soundfield that offers more clever detail the harder you listen. Quite a feat while still remaining a dancefloor knock-out. All that said, the A-side only serves to wet the taste-buds for the scorching highlight that is Find Shelter on the B. The stomping beat is swung wide this time, twinned with an unstoppably catchy synthline. But listen out; the beat is accented by clipped horns and a perfectly jarring locked loop, the vocal is subtly rewound and looped throughout the track, and it’s hard to miss the fantastic false drop, replete with panting breath samples. Find Shelter is that rare track that will dominate the dancefloor while giving the headphone-listener more than enough meat to chew on, and explicitly states that Dixon is truly a force to be reckoned with.

8/10

Dawn Day Night – Dawn Day Night EP

Label: Astrophonica

Fusing the high-tempo genres of Juke and DnB might doesn’t seem like the wildest stretch of the imagination, but it’s still surprising how few producers have managed to get this one right. Aside from Dream Continuum’s EP from earlier this year, perhaps only one song has really stuck out in this niche genre-threshold; Fracture’s summer highlight Get Busy, which featured mysterious producer Dawn Day Night. Here the collaborator is setting out his own mission statement on his debut EP, and it proves for a frantic and intoxicating injection of dancefloor madness.

 

EP Clips

These four tracks run an impressive range, racing between genres while never sounding anything but part of a powerful, cohesive sound. Opener Alcoholic Dance Flow ricochets between DnB and Juke beat tropes, the Amen break battling for space with strong keys and a perfect vocal hook. Although there’s a lot going on here, it never sounds overloaded, retaining a balance that would surely churn up any dancefloor into a state of frenzy. The DnB break is traded for a Hip Hop equivalent as Dennis Coffey’s 1971 classic Scorpio is twisted into a manic footwork number on second cut Death of Scorpio.

Not one to rest on his laurels, the next genre Dawn Day Night targets is Ghetto Tech in the weighty Big Booty Girls, where serrated basslines duel for prominence with an impressive array of percussive tweaks and a perfect call-and-reply vocal. His talent for twisting existing genre tropes to this twisted new fusion is never less than superb, so it makes sense that it’s only on final track Voodoo Vibe, which again nods to big jungle beats that we’re perhaps left wanting more, having been spoiled by variety in the first three tunes. The slight dissatisfaction with the closer does nothing to diminish the breathless power of this unhinged debut, making this one an essential listen for anyone curious about the blurred borders between genres in our current music scene.

8.5/10