EP Review: Acido - Capablanca & T. Keeler

This new Gomma EP from Berlin's Capablanca & T. Keeler is a dark, cosmic disco take on Balearic house - both disorientating and electrifying at once. Following on from the duo's previous release for Gomma, the percussive debut No Hay Ritmo, this is a wilder, more adventurous beast altogether.

The a-side is the 13-minute title track and it melds disco, Italo, punk funk and electro into an extended struggle. Imagine the slow descent of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' as the drugs wear off, eventually grinding you into confusion. It's probably the most experimental thing I've ever heard from Gomma and Capablanca & T. Keeler pull it off with aplomb.

'Tropanado' keeps things a (tiny) bit briefer at eight-minutes and gives us a slower, scratchy post-punk track with hints of ESG, Gang of Four and Liquid Liquid. It's a heavy, dubby and elastic track and the freeform structure and loose bass make it even more captivating than the title track.

The release is rounded out with a remix of 'Acido' by Sweden's Name In Lights, who give the original a more overtly epic feel with layers of keys and a four / four beat. It's mainly about the break though, which kicks in just over halfway through to give the song a momentary soulful feeling and a building acid crescendo.

Frankly it is all too rare to hear a release outside of DFA that manages to balance experimentation with this much sheer danceability and Acido is a credit to not just Capanlanca & T. Keeler but also Gomma. Go grab it.

EP Review: Alone In The Storm - Kelly Pavan

This new EP from French producer Kelly Pavan on DhARMA is one of the best releases to cross my path in a while. It took a couple of listens to really ingrain itself in my mind but stick it on and turn it up and you can't really help but be won over by its glitchy, syrupy melodies and swooping folk influenced electronica.

There are three original tracks from Pavan here and the EP opens with the title track's gently strummed acoustic guitar and a male-female duet. Pavan's production is always there but subtle enough to stand back and let his music stand front and centre.

'Are You There (No I'm Not)’ is dreamlike - wispy and dazed whilst a thick drum beat gives it a sense of momentum and a more electronic feel than 'Alone In The Storm'. The combination recalls the chill wave of early Toro y Moi but nothing there felt quite as pretty as Pavan's sunny day dreams and folk influenced vocals.

The final track, 'Psychedelik Happiness' takes things further still, starting relatively gently before adding crunchy drums and layers of distorted bass and tweaking melodies. It feels distinctively French and yet incredibly fresh - a whole new French take on disco.

The EP is rounded off with a fabulous remix of 'Are You There (No I'm Not)' by live duo Of Norway, who give the original a laid back, organic feeling that plays to both the track's and the duo's strengths. Featuring loose bass, gentler drums and a melody of warm synths it's pure Balearia. And in case you didn't know, that's right up my street.

In Kelly Pavan DhARMA appear to have struck gold - he is definitely one to watch.

Stream and buy Alone In The Storm via bandcamp below:

EP Review: Dance With The White Rabbit - Ahmet Sisman

On this, his debut release on Culprit, Ahmet unleashes some tech-house that demonstrates the impact of his German residence at the same time of hinting at an earlier influence of Sisman's youth spent growing up in Turkey.

The title track is big room stuff, a vocal skittering across big, warm synths and a building melody. It's actually the opening where this is best though, the clattering freeform drums that feature there giving the track a more lively, soulful vibe.

Sisman's other original track on this release comes in the form of the darker 'Hello To Alice'... Spotting a theme yet? It's a deeper sound than we get on 'Dance With The White Rabbit' and edges it as the more interesting of the two, opening with sexy gasps and climaxing with the clean, refreshing chords in the middle break.

This package comes with two remixes of the title track, one from Nico Lahs and the other from Audiofly. The former is more progressive, removing the looping big room feel and riding a thick bass line. Audiofly's mix goes deep and low, giving the track a tighter feel and some slightly chaotic cosmic keys.

Dance With The White Rabbit is out 4 July through Culprit.

Stream 'Hello To Alice' below:

EP Review: Tell Them - Seconds

The original version of this EP from electronic duo Seconds is a lush laid back electronic pop song. It reminds me a lot of James Yuill's saccharin yet melancholic 'This Sweet Love', with the interplay between a lilting guitar and the soft vocals of guest vocalist Lines Luti (A.K.A Little Children) striking a sparse, melodic note.

This is a different record though of course. The production is darker and the vocals slightly more haunting. It's a melting pot of house and proper folk song writing that will appeal to fans that complain about a lack of 'real' music as much as it will to fans of dance music.

The EP includes three remixes, all from Charles Webster,  entitled "Earl Jam" Dub, Club Mix and "Earl Jam" Interpretation. The dub is typically vocal free, a building progressive track of sparsely arranged synths whilst the "Earl Jam" Interpretation is that again but extended in length and scope with the vocal back in place. The club mix keeps the vocal and gives it an almost samba influence bass line. Of the three the "Earl Jam" interpretation is best - a track that gradually builds into the kind of tight, elastic piece Simian Mobile Disco do well.

Tell Them is out now on Baasaal records, available to buy digitally from Juno.

Stream below on Spotify [account required]:

EP Review: Aus - Nina Kraviz

Image source: MixmagAnother dance EP for you, hot on the heels of my recent reviews of Vidinovsky's Night Sun and Tanner Ross' Straight To The Moon. This one comes from the much hyped Nina Kraviz, out on Rekids.

I've been a fan of a number of Kraviz's previous releases - she takes the moody elegance of the minimal music that has been pushed by the likes of Crosstown Rebels over the sat few years and adds a bit of welcome femininity, pulling it back towards a house sound. This single, featuring the vocals of King Aus, is a great representation of that sound.

The original version of 'Aus', taken from Kraviz's eponymous debut album, is a deep and dubby house track that bubbles with a firm but sassy intent to party. King Aus' vocals are pure tribute to the movement of electronic music, paying homage to the dance floor and noting that "the dancers are really the ones that push the beat". The rhythms here feel tight and acrobatic whilst warm Rhodes keys provide dense layers of sticky melody. It's a delicious mix.

Remixes come from Rhythm Odyssey, Matt Edwards (of Radio Slave) and DJ Qu. None of these quite hit the same peak for me - they loose the delicately and intangible sexiness buried within those drum tracks of the original - though they are still generally worthy of inclusion, especially as the original is under five-minutes long.

The Rhythm Odyssey mix boils away with an acid bass line as the centre point whilst DJ Qu gives the whole thing a tech-house makeover. Edwards' mix is heavily percussive and probably the most interesting, stretching out the vocals and sliding in layers of paranoia, though it is not helped by Edwards' weird obsession with layering the noise of a Mac using its eye-sight camera throughout the mix. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time I suppose.

Aus is released on 25 June through Rekids.