Dan Shake - Out Of Sight

Label: Black Acre

When Dan Shake stepped onto the scene last year, it couldn’t have been under better auspices: the first non-Detroiter to ever see release on Moodymann’s Mahogani Music imprint, and with a debut at that. The journalistic flurry about how it happened (a CD changed hands at a festival and the rest is history) somewhat overshadowed the release itself, the 3am Jazz Club 12”. It was a slice of smoky deep house with an effortless groove, and while it never veered far from the well-trodden path of MCDE or Moodymann himself, it was a supremely accomplished debut.

For his second outing, Mr Shake has taken to a very different stable: Fantastic Mr Fox’s Black Acre imprint, who have most recently been peddling juke, hip hop and sample-collage from the likes of Blue Daisy, Clap! Clap! and Romare. Soulful motor city house may seem like an odd fit, but Dan Shake’s latest is as classy and satisfying as his first.

On Out Of Sight the lightest of Rhodes melodies underpins a confection of live drums, sax trills and a big bass bounce that lends the affair some muscle. Traders II comes across as a variation on the title track’s themes: here the bassline is squeezed into an acid-flecked squelch, while the sax returns to dominate, wafting pleasantly over soft chords and dusty hi hats. It’s a release with a great deal of polish andproven mileage on the dancefloor, so while Shake may still cleave a little too faithfully to his inspirations to bear the mark of an original, it’s clear he knows how to craft a good tune. Lets hope he can put his considerable talents towards something a little more distinct next time.

7/10

Read this review in context at Inverted Audio.

Fantastic Mr Fox - The Trap

Label: Black Acre

Fantastic Mr Fox’s early outings counted among some of the most intriguing bass experiments of the late 00’s, yet the Black Acre label-head has been relatively quiet over the last few years. Last year’s San’en EP signalled a successful transition to RnB-infused song-like structures, yet single-sided follow-up Power was as floor-focused as they come. Now for his first release this year, the producer attempts to strike a balance between the two styles, yet the result is unsettled; a pair of technically proficient house rollers that have neither the melodic core to truly emote nor the rhythmic force of a true dancefloor weapon.

 

The Trap

All FMF’s trademarks are here; copyright-baiting soul samples, unconventional percussive patterns and a colourful array of bouncing synths and organ stabs. Yet these tracks are somehow less than the sum of their parts. The Trap liberally uses Colonel Abram’s classic to inject a catchy hook, but the skeletal production lacks weight, only gaining momentum with the detuned horns of its final minute which are over all-too-soon. Jackal Youth faces similar problems; the attractive composition suffers from its simplicity, content to roll along without ever developing into a strong groove. It’s clear from FMF’s strong catalogue that he’s capable of rich, engaging compositions, but the tracks on this single never really take off. Most likely these are the results of a producer who has yet to settle into an individual style following the post-dubstep fallout, so with a full-length apparently in the works, let’s hope that Mr Fox can get back up to his usual standard.

6/10

Read this review in context at Inverted Audio.

Romare – Love Songs (Part One)

Label: Black Acre

Romare’s debut EP Meditations On Afrocentrism, which topped our list of 2012’s best EPs, seemed like a feat too impressive to repeat. Drawing musical influence largely from footwork, blues and hip hop, the collection expertly fused the cerebral - indeed the downright academic - with eminently listenable grooves and mature production chops. The collage of styles and samples apparently took a year of research to make, and now almost exactly one year on the Londoner has come back with a second volume just as good if not better, with a great new collage on the cover and a new musical target in his sights.

Taste Of Honey (From The City)

If Meditations drew largely from African music styles and sounds, here Romare sets his sights on the African-American tradition, with samples ranging from Peggy Lee to Nina Simone to Jimi Hendrix. He kicks off proceedings with the propulsive Your Love (You Give Me Fever), where Lee’s familiar tones are re-purposed, chopped into a call-and-reply with herself over a field of juke beats and delicate synthwork which progresses from warm ambient hum to searing siren as the track wears on. The final two minutes offer an energetic payoff to the releases most danceable tune as the energy keeps mounting over hushed finger clicks and threatening bass sweeps til the close. While many of Romare’s tunes could be said to tell a story, particularly Meditations’ closer which showed a keen awareness of the problems that face a white producer sampling black music, second cut Jimi & Faye (Part One) uses vocal samples brilliantly to chart Hendrix’s ascent to success through the words of girlfriend Faye Pridgeon. Midway through, the bluesy lope gives way to emotive rising synthwork that twists and turns before the big cathartic moment – Faye intones ‘They had no idea he was going to do what he did’ and Hendrix’s squealing guitar emerges over a miasma of distorting synths.

For the B-side Romare leaves the footwork template to explore further, and his flirtation with house on Taste Of Honey (From The City) is a real winner. It’s more subtle than your average house banger but the beauty is in the details here; the ascending melody around the three-minute mark or the expert appropriation of samples interlaced with Romare’s own constantly-shifting production. Closer Hey Now (When I Give You All My Lovin’) is another treat, a bluesy soup of jazzy piano work, dusty drums and a showstopping trumpet that some may be able to attribute. It’s not often that one comes across a producer with such a fiercely distinctive voice, especially who can fuse myriad stylistic and intellectual influences into such an extraordinarily enjoyable package. Just like his debut, Romare’s latest is a wonderful achievement, an EP of four contained, detailed gems that will make your brain long for the books and your feet long for the ‘floor.

8/10