San Francisco label Manjumasi celebrates its first year in action with more curious yet sophisticated club sounds, this time with a debut EP from Russia’s Saultloom featuring remixes from Malbetrieb and Just Be.
Saultloom is a new alias for this veteran artist—who has plenty of great EPs under his former projects—and finds him mixing up deep house, prog and techno into hard to define tapestries.
Terrific opener ‘Kowtow’ is a deep and broody house excursion, pushing steadily forward with lush synth elements and twisted, trippy effects. It oozes a certain energy and menace but also offers plenty of tender melodies and cosmic colours that interest head as well as heel. The majestic ‘Zoanthropy’ pushes the exploration even further, lead by a strong arpeggiated synth and underpinned by wavy and rubbery kicks. Spiritual in atmosphere yet nicely driven, it is a classy, contemporary house tune. And finally, the fantastic ‘Forelsket’ rounds out the set of originals, heading out to left field with an extremely quirky and playful bass-driven groove that twists and turns and will bring real dynamism to the dancefloor. Bell sounds, mysterious vocals and bristling percussion all add steaminess and ensure the cut has plenty of charm and character.
The first remix comes from a true stalwart of the dance music scene: Just Be, aka UK artist Bushwacka, has been a tech house titan for years and here he’s turned in a proper dancefloor stormer, extracting the essence of the ‘Kowtow’ groove and adding layers of percussion and effects with a unique flavour and late night edge that shows off his seasoned experience as well as his ability to produce fresh sounds. Rounding out the package is the Dutch mastermind Malbetrieb, whose interpretation of ‘Kowtow’ heads straight for outer space. Trippy and evocative, interleaving synth lines blend and bend their way through the track over a solid bed of deep bass to really suck you in.
This is an inventive and interesting package of house music that really sounds like little else.
Tracklist:
1. Kowtow (Original Mix)
2. Zoanthropy (Original Mix)
3. Forelsket
4. Kowtow (Just Be Remix)
5. Kowtow (Malbetrieb Remix)
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