EP Review: Heartbeat - Night Plane

View fullsize

Heartbeat - Night Plane

This release from Night Plane represents a an interesting first, coming out as it does on a brand new label within the Wolf + Lamb stable. Heartbeat represents the debut release from one Soul Clap Records.

Night Plane is Brooklynite William Rauscher and this EP shows off his broad range of abilities, from crunchy grunge guitars and indie-cool through to deep electronic house.

The title track, 'Heartbeat', has a surpringly loose, live feel to it. Looping drums and a scratchy, bluesy guitar line open the door on a song that aims straight for the midpoint between rock and dance. Long-time, friend of Rauscher, Casey Gibbs provides the slightly yobish vocals and a fair amount of attitude.

Next up, 'Foreign Affairs' is a much slower, gentler ride. Vocals fade in and out of the mix whilst a series of warm melodies are built from layers of guitars. It's a stark contrast to that opening track but it captures a sense of useless yearning that stems from love divided by distance and sets the tone and pace for what follows across this EP.

Perhaps most intriguing on this EP is the cover of 90s slacker-indie legends Pavement's 'Gold Soundz'. Pavement aren't the sort of band that frequently get referenced by DJs and electronic producers so it's unusual to hear their music re-imagined in this way... In fact covers of Pavement seem to be fairly rare full-stop. At this point I have to confess a little worry as to how this version would turn out, but the fact that the vocals are provided by Heather D'Angelo of Au Revoir Simone suggests a fair amount of indie sophistication. The result is thick, warm, starry-eyed and full of teenaged wonder and it feels destined to soundtrack the sunrise after a long evening of excitement. Malkmus would almost certainly hate it, but leave the baggage of the source material behind and it's a pretty track.

D'Angelo remains on vocal duties for 'Gates Of Dawn', a slightly deeper warm house track. The title suggests it is aimed at those moments of darkness just before the sun breaks and the beautiful swirling sound is a perfect fit. Shimmering guitar licks, D'Angelo's trademark deadpan vocals and occasional warm keys create an emotive soundscape. It's the electronics and deep drum kick that gives the track its feel though, the sense of surviving a long night. 

Remixes of 'Gates Of Dawn' come from Wolf + Lamb and Burning Man. Wolf + Lamb stay faithful and just give things a bit more treble, more melodic bass and a snare. The Burning Man mix is also fairly straight with the original, with a dark acid bass that contrasts to a vocal placed higher in the mix and greater prominence for the keys.

Heartbeat is a promising EP, not just for Night Plane but for the entire Soul Clap Records proposition. Intelligent, soulful dance music with indie references? I'll gladly take it if it stays this cool.

Heartbeat is out now on Soul Clap Records, available from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Listen via Spotify below:

EP Review: Out of Phase / Shout - Tiger Stripes feat. Pete Fij / My Favorite Robot & Silky

View fullsize

Out of Phase / Shout - Tiger Stripes feat Pete Fij / Silky & My Favorite Robot

This new split EP from the My Favorite Robot label features just two tracks but there is enough here to make it an interesting listen. The label have been fairly successful in pairing up artists in the past, whether on their 'Stimulus Package' series of their previous split EPs.

Up first is Tiger Stripes - real name Mikael Nodgren - who hails from Stokholm and has already released material on My Favourite Robot Records earlier this year in the form of his Crossroads EP.

Here Nodgren delivers a twisted piece of electronic soul. Both the vocals from Pete Fij and the overall production style recall eighties synth pop but the track is dark even given the sounds it references - Soft Cell and Depeche Mode. The track features a fluid sounding bass line and ghostly synths that provide a contrast to the largely mechanical rhythms and together it's an emotional track that still manages to work in a club setting.

My Favorite Robot is the trio of James Teej, Jared Simms and Voytek Koran and here they team up with London's Silky to create a new take on Tears For Fears' 'Shout'. It's difficult to assess such a record without an emotional response based on the original record. For me, that connection probably makes this track seem both better and worse than it actually is.

In my view Tears For Fears are probably one of the finest bands on the eighties, all three of their original albums as a duo demonstrating a fantastic combination of songwriting and stellar production work across a range of classic tracks. Of these 'Shout' is clearly one of the best known, Roland Orzabel's vocal instantly recognisable against the drum-heavy track.

Remixing something so iconic is either bold, foolish or perhaps both. Whilst this track remains enjoyable it ultimately loses more than it gains as it comes under My Favorite Robot's surgeon's scalpel. The original version's giant drum sound is replaced with an appropriately large alternative but it lacks the same bite. The punchy bell-chimes that feature in the original are dropped so low in the mix as to render them impotent, meaning a key distinctive part of the track (and one that would survive remixing well) gets lost. On the plus side the acid-heavy extended bridge and outro is where the value is, chunky drum-sets and some vicious bass ensuring it will sound ferocious on the dance floor.

Out Of Phase / Shout is out on Monday through My Favorite Robot Records.

EP Review: Heartbreaker Remixes - Crazy P

Crazy P seem to have come along way since they dropped the 'enis' and became just Crazy P. Once upon a time that name felt like a lead weight around their necks and yet they have happily outgrown it, becoming one of the UK's more dependable cross-over acts.

'Heartbreaker' retains the sophisticated disco edge the band have always focused on and applies it to the sort of soft house sound they have gravitated towards over the years. It's a refined, soulful track, full of detail - whether it's the muted blues rock guitars, the sweeping strings, the melodic but melancholic New Order-style bass line or the tight, live percussion. It's difficult to hear this and not want to check out the latest album, When We On, from which this is lifted.

View fullsize

Heartbreaker Remixes - Crazy P

The label behind this release, 2020 Vision, selected the first remixer based on his ability to rock a party without sacrificing his deep and classic style. Its something Mark E manages to demonstrate with aplomb here. His mix turns this into a taught track full of nervous energy - the bass feeling cavernous and deep and each element cut into tiny snippets which are layered together to make something as haunting and beautiful as the original, but much heavier sounding. With gentle reverb and retaining parts of the original string section it gives the track another interesting twist on the post-punk meets disco sound it comes from.

The final mix comes from Huxley, who applies his trademark chunky house-meets-garage sound to the track. It's a stark yet elegantly achieved contrast captured on this record, those gentle soulful strings and the guitar work segueing into the harder, bass-orientated sections.

All three mixes here totally deliver in terms of quality and the overall package is varied enough to keep things very interesting. In other words, this is a release well worth checking out. 

Heartbreaker Remixes is released through 2020 Vision on 10 December. Pre-order on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link] or preview the EP on Soundcloud below:

EP Review: Lessons Learned - Milton Jackson

View fullsize

Lessons Learned - Milton Jackson

The Lessons Learned EP from Milton Jackson comes out next week and whilst we should be heading into the pre-Christmas record release lull by now this interrupts that notion and is pretty good.

Milton Jackson, the pseudonym of Barry Christie, has been making electronic music since his debut on Soletronic's Tronicsole label in 2000. Over the years he has experiment with tech and house sounds and this latest EP is set to come out on the promising new label Black Key Records, who launched just last year.

The EP opens with the first of two original tracks - 'See The Light'. It's on the techy sound of house - looped synths and strings and a clipped vocal give this a slick, quality feel. A raw bass sound and early nineties drum machine offset that clean sound though to make something more compelling and soulful.

Retaining that same tech-meets-old-skool sound '5 Cities' ups the soul element with a soft melody. It's a nice blend of early UK and US garage - where dubstep was born out of the darker, more drum 'n' bass influenced sounds of garage this goes back to the birth of that sound, deep house, and it feels surprisingly fresh.

Andy Ash delivers the final track, a remix of '5 Cities' that stays true to the original - a subtly more spacious mix that maintains the original feel.

Lessons Learned is released next Monday through Black Key Records, preview the EP on Soundcloud below:

EP Review: The Hatch Series - Various Artists

The Hatch Series is the first in a planned annual compilation series from DhARMA, a new label that has already impressed with a couple of their releases this year.

Made up of five tracks from five different artists it's a relatively eclectic set showcasing DhARMA's progressive approach to A&R. The EP opens with a blues-influenced IDM track from Kyson. There is a little hint of Nicolas Jaar to 'Drifting On By', with a soulful vocal and a slow, textured feel to the production work.

Atiko Misaki's 'Do You Remember Me' is all gentle piano chords and relaxed trumpet, pleasingly jazzy and left-field and even slower than the EP's opening. In contrast 'Midnight Travellers' by Tibalt is a little more upbeat, a striking gothic-electro-prog-opera piece. It may be a little less universal than Misaki's track but the pounding drum-set snares and eighties synths aren't without their charms.

Next up is Silly Rabbit with 'Subsonic Sunset'. It is a mildly Germanic glitch-pop piece, full of big ambient noises and synthetic drums but it never quite seems to get to its destination for me..

The EP is rounded out with 'Beta' by Skai Nine, and it's a pretty good summary of where DhARMA ultimately seem to have their heads as a label. It's experimental electronic music that manages to be greater than the sum of its parts, a whirling cacophony of gentle sounds that comes together to create a softly stuttering pop record. It concludes a short, interesting statement of intent with the first two tracks proving particularly enduring.

The Hatch Series is released on 1 October through DhARMA. Preview the release below through Soundcloud or pre-order from DhARMA here.