I'm still in a loved-up disco buzz and this new release from Australian Mic Newman, here as Fantastic Man, is pushing my buttons. Off of the back of all of the Daft Punk excitement everything feels a little bit woozy so it's a bit fresh to hear something this tight and focused.
'Tension' is a clipped tech 'n' disco number, full of 80s gloss and moments of heart beats skipping. There's a viciousness in the unforgiving scratches that rub up against the yearning sample work and melodic keys, creating a track the is insistently passionate.
'Margine Call' makes a classic misstep in being utterly predictable: it's a fucking DJ tool / sound test record. One of those "classic" in-jokes that pretends the track will help you 'tune you equipment'. Well fuck that: we've all just wasted our time and Fantastic Man has wasted 50% of a slab of vinyl.
Drop the annoying vocal though and 'Margine Call' would be an off-kilter funk record made with layered samples and some massive rolling, fuzzy drum work. It's a decent track but the dressing kind of ruins it.
Tension / Margine Call is out on Monday through Fine Choice Records, check out the Soundcloud previews below: