Music Reviews
Nitin’s Latenightlife Remixed – My Favourite Robot
While 2011 may have been the year that No.19 Music and Art Department hit the hype-o-meter, but Canada was far more than a two-pronged attack, with a host of labels and artists having put in the hard yards in recent times, and Toronto imprint My Favourite Robot kept neck and neck for much of the year. One of their biggest tracks of the last twelve months was Nitin’s Latenightlife, which showcased the Ontario artist’s sublime ear for deep and dubby house, and its with this that they’ve chosen to kick off 2012, as the original gets the remix treatment.
Having hooked up with Columbian outift Sexteto Tabala in Toronto, Nitin bore a re-edit of Latenightlife, taking in their Latin flavours and mixing them into a rework that adds South American spoken vocals and percussive twists that breathes new life into the already fantastic original. Joining him on the title track is Parisian Anthony Collins, whose live skills come to the fore with wandering piano, deft stabs and low-end rasps that work the track into a space all of his own. Two remixes of The Nine In One inhabit the flip, the first from Subb-an, whose characteristic head for a groove focusses on the bassline and bright percs, with vocals washing over proceedings. Brett Johnson’s ‘4 Steppers Only’ remix swims under lush chords and choppy snares, a classic house cut.
Halfway EP by Homeboy – Hypercolour
Hypercolour is never a label to rest on its laurels. Despite a 2011 that saw rich pickings on ‘best of’ lists as December closed out, Jamie Russell and Alex Jones’ would have been planning their assault on the fresh year when many others were busy making turkey sandwiches. In the case of their main label (with the sublime Glass Table giving it a run for its money on a weekly basis) they show their thirst for eclecticism, following up Maya Jane Coles’ EP in December with one of Eastern Europe’s hottest talents, Homeboy (aka Marko Pelaic), whose skills as a sound designer have led him into electronic music.
His four track EP covers many corners of the scene, from straight-up house to disco, and on opener Halfway, the listener’s met by rich piano chords before bongo-led percs and sultry vocals and grooves transport them back to early 90s, jazzy heaven. On You Make Me Go Crazy, choppy, heavy percussion and analogue b-line combine with brash stabs, pads and vocals to provide another retro-leaning houser. In fact, it’s not hard to see the influence of Chicago running through all of the EP here, Treehouse employing male vocals over wandering keys, while Sound In D Air is dominated by spoken vox, while the bassline walks below. Youandewan’s remix of the title track is a modern counterpoint, a dubby, roomy slice of contemporary dubstep, and flows beautifully alongside the jacking originals.
