EP Review: Feel Good feat. Scavenger Hunt - Satin Jackets

Feel Good opens Satin Jackets' recent debut album, Panorama Pacifico, and is itself a reimagining of the duo's early track You Make Me Feel Good. With vocals from Los Angeles four-piece Scavenger Hunt this retains much of the simple and achingly enthusiastic infatuation of the original but adds a layer of polish that has come with the years of additional experience Satin Jackets have built up.

Scavenger Hunt have attempted to bring more of a voice to the track, in their words the band attempted to capture the feeling of "jumping into a cool pool on a hot summer day - refreshing, exhilarating and sexy". The additional vocals act as a fairly natural extension of You Make Me Feel Good's sentiment, but as such it is a little difficult to argue that they add much... The original already had a somewhat restrained perfection and there is nothing wrong with this reimagining, it just feels a little unnecessary.

In this package come three remixes of the new track. Cavego adds some warm pads and a little more range, but otherwise keeps things very close to the original. The Keljet mix gives the track a slightly more disco feel, calypso rhythms adding some more colour.

Finally the In Limbo remix is blissfully horizontal - Balearic and a pure ode to lounging glistening by the poolside. It is here that those Scavenger Hunt vocals come into their own a bit more, the space opening them up and giving the emotion a little more room.

Feel Good is out is out on Eskimo Recordings on Friday - in the meantime check out the album Panorama Pacifico below.

Available on Vinyl / CD / Download / Stream here : http://news.lnk.to/panoramapacifico Undoubtedly the darlings of electro-pop, Satin Jackets finally unveil their debut artist album. ‘Panorama Pacifico’ features a string of cameos from vocalists familiar and exotic, jetting in from LA, Berlin, London, Belgium and Australia. Scaling the heights of the Hype machine from their first release to the latest, and clocking up over ten million plays on spotify, Satin Jackets' original brand of diva funk and smooth disco has whetted the tastebuds of the likes of Majestic Casual and i-D mag who said the duo’s “super sexy, infectious house music is filled with the vibe of summertime.” German music producer Tim Bernhardt and lead performer Den Ishu are Satin Jackets. Their eponymous live show has relentlessly toured the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe, opening their fluid pop appeal and accessible four-to-the-floor groove up to the world at large. Their album ‘Panorama Pacifico’ is set for release on their home label, Eskimo Recordings. The Belgian imprint has been a purveyor of disco, house and everything in between for over fifteen years. More info http://maouris.co.uk/music/panorama-pacifico Out April 8th on https://soundcloud.com/eskimorecordings http://www.satin-jackets.com/ http://www.eskimorecordings.be/ https://www.facebook.com/satinjackets https://www.facebook.com/eskimorecordings/ https://twitter.com/satinjackets https://twitter.com/eskimorecords

EP Review: Hold On - The Lytics

Having already made waves with their first two releases, Canadian hip hop group The Lytics are hearing up for a big 2016, culminating in their third album.

But first we get Hold On, an EP set for release in April. The Lytics wear their inspiration loud and proud, drawing from some of hip hop's greatest acts across this five-track release. The end result is a release that feels like a mix tape made by a friend covering their favourite joints... Only rather than tracks from a variety of artists, The Lytics have managed to put together a release where they sound like five different classic groups at once.

And so opener Friction sounds like classic J Dilla produced Pharcyde. Loose keys loop beneath a huge boom-bap drum loop whilst the emcees drop some raucous bars.

Title track Hold On's chunky bass and looped soul sample is pure early Slum Village, even name-checking their Fantastic joint Get Dis Money. It's a gloriously back-to-bass-ics track in contrast to modern hip-hop's paranoia.

Legendary and Tried So Hard plough similarly catholic territory - purist tracks for vintage hip hop heads.

Daydream stands out as a great moment on an already strong release. A female vocal provides a sense of mellow femininity amongst thundering snares, kick drums and hi hats. Calling to mind A Tribe Called Quest, it's like someone took the insanity of What's The Scenario? and updated in for 2016...

All in, Hold On is a confident demonstration of a group well able to draw down on some 30-years of classic hip-hop to transform it into their own thing. An impressively focused and confidently delivered release. 

Hold On is released on 8 April. Check out to Legendary below:

EP Review: For Ever More - My Favourite Robot ft Northern Lite

The spaceship rocketed towards the stars above as planets, comets and cosmic dust soared past them through hyperspace. They had been in orbit for some time now and the world sat far below their metal craft. Spacesuits on, they sat huddled in the tiny cockpit looking back on a place which they used to once call home. Who knew what adventures in the skies awaited, time would only tell as they began their quest for new life and civilisation. They would float happily through the darkness forever more, for ever more. Here is the latest release from the Be Free Camp. My Favorite Robot's 'For Ever More' is remixed by the duo of Marvin & Guy.

Teaming up for this new release on Be Free are My Favorite a Robot and indie electronic artists Northern Lite. Together they have made For Ever More, a dreamy, dubby trip of a record. 

The original version is full of spaced out vocals and piercing synths. Chugging bass throbs beneath rapid rhythmic percussion.  The result is a deliberately paced record, full of fizzing attitude and glorious melodies. The Club Mix pushes out the length and amps up a clattering drum loop whilst a No Vocal version drops out most (but not all) of the vocal. 

Rounding out the release is a remix by Marvin & Guy, known for their releases on Jon Talabot's Hivern Discs and Young Adults. Here they create a brooding climatic minimal take that you can check out in full above. 

EP Review: We Can Talk - Satin Jackets feat. Emma Brammer

We Can Talk is the latest release on Belgium's brilliant Eskimo from Satin Jackets. Featuring Emma Brammer on vocals, it's a straight-up house-influenced pop record and it comes with the announcement of the duo's debut album. On the release German producer Time Bernhardt and lead performer Den Ishu said:

"We Can Talk sets the pace for the upcoming album … the album itself will be diverse and versatile. Two years of our heart and soul poured into it so it’s going to be the full listening experience."

The track layers looped piano melodies, string effects and tight percussion together with Brammer's gorgeously infectious vocals. The London-based artist explains the lyrics behind the song as dealing with your first love when things go wrong:

"I was hooked on the track [from] the first time. The lyrics are about the exciting and painful first love maybe it's not so good for you but it feels historical. Loved working with Tim just good vibes and good tunes."

The original is classic Eskimo stuff - sunny and melodic. Packaged up with it in this release is a remix from Munich-resident, Portuguese-native Moullinex. He deconstructs much of the original to create a more-cosmic sounding version with lots of space given over to that vocal. It culminates in a deep, acid-soaked crescendo complete with a cool punk-funk bassline. Finally German producer Larse rounds out the release with a darker dub version.

EP Review: Page One Is Love - Aeroplane

Back when Aeroplane were a duo they felt a little bit untouchable, their early EPs on Eskimo marking them out as leaders in the newly emerged rebirth of disco. The eponymous Aeroplane, Pacific Air Race and Whispers all carving out a loose, organic take on house and disco that eskewed the previously prevailing artificial funky house sound.

Once Stephen Fasano left to leave remaining member Vito de Luca to continue operating under the same name it felt a little like the directions that could be pursued exploded. Single We Can't Fly was more eclectic, a dub-influenced track that retained the unmistakably Balearic sound of Aeroplane's early EPs but applied to a maximalist template. 

We are four years on from the release of debut album In Flight Entertainment and it feels like de Luca is re-embracing a more restrained sound, albeit applied to a more straight-up classic house template. On the heels of his collaboration with Benjamin Diamond, the title track of Page One Is Love sees Aeroplane team up with original house innovator Jamie Principle, and together they create something that sounds like it has been taken out of Frankie Knuckle's song book. Keys pound out a repeated uplifting refrain, with the track riding a warm four-four beat. De Luca undoubtedly adds a little modern polish - the track infuses that irresistible vintage house sound with perfect modern production to create a little slice of summer for your ears.

Dancing With Each Other follows a very similar template, to the extent that it could probably be mistaken for a re-imagining of the title track. Female vocals are woven into the track like an additional instrument and the track features an irresistible distorted synth in the final third that couldn't sound more White Isle of it tries. 

A remix of each track features. Cassara's take on Page One Is Love includes a shuffling US garage beat and closely looped piano melody but it lacks the heart of the original. The Ten Ven version of Dancing With Each Other fares better, carving out a clipped tech-house track that plays with filters to create some gorgeous drops. 

It is great to hear Aeroplane putting out music again and the straight up quality of the title track feels like a winning balance of nostalgia and modern house. The two original tracks here are arguably too similar to know whether de Luca has lots more to deliver, but as a standalone release this feels a bit like some of those early Eskimo releases, albeit drawing more now from classic house than disco.

Page One Is Love is out now on Eskimo Recordings, preview the title track below: