EP Review: Back Up Queen - Nathan Barato feat. The Ride Committee & Roxy

There seems to be something in the water in Toronto - recent months have seen a burst of techno and clipped, minimal house releases emerge from the city to melt our icy hearts and win over our souls.

Nathan Barato's debut release on Rekids continues that trend, taking a 70s soul vocal sample, some additional camp vocals and adding them to tight, reverb heavy jacking house. The girl fight lyrics are a little much much the chunky drums and enclosed echoing ambience of 'Back Up Queen' make it a great soundtrack for dark moments in small, dark rooms.

Two remixes follow up the a-side. Oliver $ gives things a deeper, tribal feel that ditches the sample and gives the vocal more presence. The 808 Fake mix does the opposite, ditching the vocal whilst tweaking and looping the sample into a simple bumping minimal groove. Of the two mixes the latter is probably the better but they both lack almost all of the charm of the original, which has just enough funk and classic house atmosphere to make it a sweaty seven-minutes of pleasure.

Back Up Queen is released on Rekids tomorrow.

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:

Album Review: Lucifer - Peaking Lights

Here's a confession: I lost the promo of Peaking Lights' debut album.

Whilst other more established and better organised music blogs were falling in love with with this duo I was falling over myself to figure out exactly where their album had gone.

I found it in the end though, dubby and sunny and seemingly increasingly lost in the moments it had experience in my absence - full of heady dreamy days and sunny hedonism.

The youth of today have seemingly become lost in a sun trap of day dreams and... Well, dreams. Listen to any of the bands you are supposed to give a shit about these days - Beach House, Washed Out, Kindness - and they all feel trapped inside their own lazy ambition.

What I really want. More than anything else. Is to keep on dreaming.

Peaking Lights' new album Lucifer feels like the removal of a veil. A pulling back of the curtain as you enter the tripped out dream world duo Indra Dunis and Aaron Coyes inhabit on this second experiment, their 45-minute sun dance.

And the dance kicks in proper on the intoxicating 'Beautiful Son', an epic crescendo of sunny keys, loving bass and assured guitars that forms a tribute to Dunis and Coyes' son, Mikko. It forms a high that won't let you come down. Not yet.

The intoxication kicks in proper at that point with 'Live Love', which quickly pioneers a groove-based dub adventure. 'Cosmic Tides' will leave you somewhere between enthused and relaxed, a slow move to climax that feels like little work was involved and yet it demands like an un-moveable force. There are traces of Peaking Lights' inspirations all over this record, in the fuzzy guitar lines of Stereolab and the subtle traces of paranoia peddled by Lee Perry. 

This is an album that, even more than their last, sees the listener on a disconcerting journey to discovery. Repeated listens will take you further and deeper, like a ever descending version of Christopher Nolan's Inception. Just ensure you pack a map and a torch for you return trip from dreamworld.

Lucifer is out now on Weird World, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

Stream below on Spotify [account required]: