EP Review: Mixed Fortunes 3 - Rory Phillips

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​Rory Phillips, preparing for a spot of wiff waif presumably!

Rory Phillips has been delivering the goods through his DJ mixes and remixes for a while now and this original production is thankfully no different. This is the third instalment in the Mixed Fortunes series and this time Rory has teamed up with Martin Dubka.

Dubka is known for producing Ali Love and additional production work to some of Aeroplane's recent output, so he comes with form. Here the two of them team up on opening track 'Don't Stop', a staggeringly infectious, sweaty track. This has the same hard, fully-maxed treble kick to it of DJ T or M.A.N.D.Y. at their best, but Rory puts it to work on a funk bass line loaded with pure swagger. The vocoder vocal and staccato synth don't do anything particularly new - they just do it really well. Keep it clean, tight and sexy.

Back on his own on the flip, Rory turns in 'E-Bow' - a considerably slower, more atmospheric track. It puts some stunted live bass to work against a wall of ambient reverb-heavy analogue synths. Very different to 'Don't Stop' - this is closer to rock music and dub, and it shows off Phillips' production chops brilliantly as well as the capabilities of the E-Bow itself.

​Mixed Fortunes 3 is released on Monday, preview it via the Soundcloud player below:

EP Review: Bahamas EP - Luca Bacchetti

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​Bahamas EP - Luce Bacchetti

​Luca Bacchetti's Bahamas EP represents his debut release on the Culprit label and here he takes an analogue, retro-inspired path.

A-side 'A Night In Nassau' is a real sunset turning-point type track. It starts off beach soundtracking disco with a funky head-nodding bass (think Alan Braxe & Fred Falke's Running / "Intro") with some silky vocals. Laid back piano contributes to a warm, house vibe. There is a dark, grimey break halfway through though and the sudden stark percussion and acid bass lines create a nice contrast to the body of the track.

Two remixes of 'A Night In Nassau' feature. The 'A Late Night Mix' is a lower, more obviously house influenced affair - deep electronic bass line, cow bells and a clearer vocal turn this into a very different, but equally strong, version. The final dub version is very similar to the original, less some extra touches - gone are the muted guitars.

Also featured is a second original track - 'Such A Dreamer'. The massive drums and analogue synth work immediately give this more of an eighties vibe Italo vibe. The backing may be hard and fast but there is still a warm disco softness to the melodies that break through in the middle section. I wouldn't play it indoors - it just might blow the roof off.

The Bahamas EP is released​ through Culprit on Monday - preview 'Such A Dreamer' on Soundcloud below:

EP Review: New Ships - Benoit & Sergio

Benoit & Sergio have become one of my favourite duos in the past year or so. Their EP releases on both Visionquest and DFA have contained moments of sheer brilliance.

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New Ships - Benoit & Sergio​

This new release comes out on Visionquest, following up on their Where The Freaks Have No Name EP. That release featured the gloriously disgruntled love-lost-to-the-k-hole anthem 'Walk And Talk', so hopes are high for this new one...

New Ships opens with 'Lipstick & Lace' - a frisky, funk strut with vocals dedicated to an irresistible female. You know, the kind that wants to make you do the mash-potato. Benoit & Sergio's talent is always in their particular blend of warm bass with cool, metallic synths played in a funky way - as shown in great effect to the piano-embellished outro here.

In my opinion though the duo are at their best when the melodies are allowed to dominate. Which is exactly what they do on 'Not In Your Nature', a track of passive-aggressive missives. The vocals and pads are layered beautifully here, giving the sensation of swimming through the thick, queasy feeling you get in the knot of your stomach when something goes badly askew... It's strangely relaxing yet the whole song is clearly about being taken advantage of.

The EP's title track has a distinctive, prominent looping bass line that performs the foundations for some semi-liquid guitar that almost oozes and yet still feels brittle around the edges. If Daft Punk made music for a downer with massive bass it would probably sound like this, the vocal a cry for help - "So many nooses around my neck, as I stare at the sea waiting for new ships" - the music the sound of dancing on through it.

Another terrific EP. Now give me an album.

​New Ships is released through Visionquest on 15 October.

EP Review: Steady EP - Guy Gerber

​It wasn't long ago that I was swooning a little over Guy Gerber's solo artist mix for Fabric, his self-professed break-up record so this EP is a welcome return.

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Steady EP - Guy Gerber​

The title track retains that same tumbling introspectiveness of Fabric 64 - wounded bass lines that sound like a slowed-down Peter Hook bleeding through the walls. The synths whine, forming a duet with the guitar work to pick out fragile melodies like early work from the Edge. But whilst the track makes reference to post-punk this is all modern and electronic. dOP's Jaw provides vocals here and he pulls off a performance that sounds well outside of his comfort zone but is better for it: naked and alone.

On the flip side Midland turns 'Steady' into something tighter and leaner. The thick bass builds to a climatic finale that manages to make a very sympathetic dance floor stormer out of Gerber's emotionally charged original.

Clarion North, who guested on Fabric 64, provides a remix of one of the tracks from that album that he didn't originally feature on - 'The Golden Sun And The Silver Moon'. It was one of the highlights on the album and Clarian North, one half of the Canadian duo Footprintz, opens it up and layers in lots of echo and a more functional beat, making it slightly more dance floor friendly but retaining the alienation of the original. The digital release also gets the original, in full length form.

Steady EP​ is released on Monday through Supplement Facts.

Album Review: Word of Mouth - Matt Tolfrey

Tolfrey's debut release was partially constructed using his mouth. Rather than create melodies using keyboards, synthesisers or a computer the very starting point was a hum. Using software Tolfrey would then convert this initial earworm into midi notes, to be turned into music back on his computer. Hence the album's title.

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Word of Mouth - Matt Tolfrey​

It explains much of Word of Mouth's sound - groove based, with baselines you can easily imagine being hummed whilst dreaming rapturous dance floors on the bus. Which sadly isn't to say everything here is infectiously memorable, but there is a certain immediacy to the bass.

Tolfrey is label boss for Leftroom Records and has also released through Crosstown Rebels, Rekids and Culprit amongst others... All labels known much more for their 12" single and EP releases than long-players, a fact that is clearly in evidence here. In response to the age-old question of how to handle the dance album Tolfrey goes for the slightly predictable "change nothing about the music, just add a few vocals" option.

Some of those vocals stand up. Marshall Jefferson would sound pretty cool reading out his shopping list, so his tribute to house (complete with plenty of name-checking) is a highlight, riding the very locked groove the vocal references. It feels a little resigned though, Marshall championing the likes of Jamie Principle on what is ultimately little more than a DJ tool. It is certainly not a patch on his own fantastically surreal 'Mushrooms', which musically treads a similar path of warm tech-house.

And Kid K's breathless vocal on the snappy 'Turn You Out' is funky and distinct enough to transcend its surroundings whilst album closer 'Not So Little', featuring Kevin Knapp, is slinky and refined. Knapp's vocals flip-flop between spoken and whispered, creating an honest timelessness to Tolfrey's production that is lacking elsewhere.

Accompanying these highlights are a clutch of unnecessary fillers. Jem Cooke appears on two tracks but makes an impact on neither and there are a few other similar efforts. Worse still, 'Darkside of the Discoball' highlights the fallacy of all the vocals, creating something far more interesting without needing any.

For the ups and downs Word of Mouth never really transcends the 12" format that inspired it - only 'Not So Little' really justifies the album format, a song that actually feels like it has something to say.

Word of Mouth is released through Leftroom Records on 22 October, you can pre-order it on CD from Amazon.co.uk here [affiliate link].​ Preview the album below via Soundcloud: