Nebraska - Stand Your Ground

Label: Mister Saturday Night

New York’s Mister Saturday Night has been a little quiet lately following the release of a label-defining compilation and mix CD last year. While they might be starting the year a little late, in May the imprint is flying out of the stables with not one but two great EPs, one from local Gunnar Haslam and this EP from another sorely-missed voice in the house scene, London’s Nebraska, who released a great album in 2011 and then totally disappeared.

Nebraska’s re-emergence is even more welcome given the quality of this EP, which is a masterclass in groove and execution, chanelling several distinct styles and nailing every one. Little Chan opens on a busy note, a flurry of bleeping synths, set in call and response with a swift acid burble while a locked rhythm subtly gives way to a straightened boogie bounce. The Stoop is a low-slung exercise in funk, jazzy keys rolling out over a confident strut and metronome handclaps.

Having started on a high, Nebraska impressively ups his game for the flipside, where title track Stand Your Ground fuses the best of the A-side’s two attributes, a swaggering groove visited by a series of glistening synths soaring straight into the stratosphere, melding the futuristic with the decidedly earthly to brilliant effect. Then Emotional Rescue rounds off the package with a smash-hit disco number out of nowhere, its filtering brass and looped vocals sure to bring euphoric vibes to the ‘floor. Stand Your Ground is quite a coup – a rare house EP where every track more than merits club play, and easily stands as one of the best releases in MSN’s already-impressive canon.

8.5/10