29 January 2010

Rob's Future House Reviews #2 - January 2010

Beauville Feat. Jenny Halberg - Living Easy (Ospina Digital)
The groove on this Damien Carter produced release fits well in the soulful house vibe but that would be underselling it a bit compared to much of the junk passed off as soulful these days. ‘Living Easy’ oozes soul and has the sort of silky vocals which hail back to the best of this style in the 90s. Fisher Fiebak takes his remix on a more techy tip with a stabbed synth and big-room vibe while Rob Salmon creates a bass-driven deep house jam which rolls effortlessly with intricate percussion elements and nicely arranged keys. In another decade this would be classic Masters At Work and it’s good to hear the sound is still alive in some corners. Ospina Digital at Beatport

Amy James - Crunch EP (Pure Substance Digital)
Amy James, Crunch, Pure SubstanceIt’s a little hard to categorise this release. On one hand it’s deep house and the other it’s futuristic prog-house. Title track ‘UV’ is a soulful house vibe the likes of which Louie Vega or Danny Krivit would be at home playing. It’s a laid-back, jazzy house groove with muted keys and straight-forward arrangement. No bells and whistles – just solid and funky. ‘Later’ is completely different with a futuristic prog-breaks arrangement. ‘Crunch’, however, is the peak-time addition to the release, a superb techno-inspired progressive track with a fantastic energy which avoids being at all obvious or banging. Some really nice synth lines and well-paced arrangement make this a good score for times when you want to bridge the gap between progressive and techno. Crunch EP at Junodownload

Timos - Smile & Move On (Sonido)
The main even really here is the original of ‘Move On’. It is a superb early-90s MURK inspired track with an obvious x-factor which keeps you hooked and interested with the bare bones: a hooky vocal which loops over and over, chunky beats and a deep dubby bassline. Very solid. 'Smile’ does a more minimal tech-house groove with understated synth action, light percussion and sparse arrangement which drops and hangs-ten a few times to nice effect. The M.in & Alex Piccini remix goes for a more straight-forward loopy track which is pretty effective as a tool. Sonida on Junodownload

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