Montel – Brothers Sisters EP

The pure and unadulterated house outlet that is the excellent Toy Tonics turn to busy boy Montel for their next EP, which is his first on the label. It features three tracks of on point house and comes from a man who throws parties in his native Belfast, DJs around the world and knows dance music inside out.

Montel first emerged in summer 2012, sending out demos to DJ friends and causing a stir. As a result, key players such as Bicep, Jordan Peak and Waze & Odyssey were quick to come out in support! Top House stables like Let’s Play House, ALiVE and Large Music have all come calling since. His style is to combine heavy percussive garage with house beats into raw, fad free tracks that make you jack.

‘Brothers Sisters’ opens up the EP with a chunky bit of house driven on by emotive pads, swelling synths and a big bad bassline that thuds away beneath classic vox stabs and rolling kicks. It’s old school and sweaty at the same time.

Next up, ‘Got 2 Have U’ marries skipping garage drums with rich, round kicks and clever filters cut in and out to add atmosphere. Funky guitar riffs and swirling pads, as well as male vocal cries, add a sense of house party fun and human life to the groove and as it bounces on it can’t help but get a crowd moving.

Lastly, ‘Technology’ kicks a bit harder. The drums are run through with space aged, robotic synth stabs and icy hi hat ringlets that lend the whole thing a more futuristic feel, as do the spoken word vocals and belly space craft melodies that rain down from above.

This is fun, functional house music of the sort that dance floors from London to Los Angeles simply will not be able to resist.