Music Reviews
You Gotta Be by Geddes – Mobilee
As the Berlin label approaches its landmark 100th release, it looks to London to close out the 90s, with their latest EP taking the form of a trio of housers from London stalwart Geddes. The Mulletover man was putting on warehouse parties in the middle of the last decade long before they were back in vogue, and while his DJ sets as far flung as Bestival, Ibiza (where he’s played for We Love and held a residency with Mulletover in Sankeys) and xxx, his production work has had a recent resurgence, with work on Tsuba, Murmur and his own nofitstate imprint. He’s the perfect fit for Mobilee with his own idiosyncratic take on the four-four.
You Gotta Be opens the triptych, with disembodied vox and rasping notes prefacing a rolling groove and choppy percs, before a ravey melody enters at the halfway mark. The subtle changes in form and progression gradually evolve from a simple melody to a dawnlight cut of house that embodies the Londoner’s expansive style. No Return carries more menace, its sub and b-line rumbling under woozy chords as fx and vocal cut-ups flit in and out of proceedings, and it takes on a more early-90s feel with a revolving melody in its second half. Coma closes fittingly with a low-slung, submerged groove, letting sonic tweaks colour the mix as the track drives on. Music for the late night.
What I Might Do by Ben Pearce – MTA Records
Every so often a track emerges that seems to have the ability to appear from the morass of its competition and stick its head above the parapet. With so much similar sleazy, west-coast vocal house floating around, Ben Pearce’s What I Might Do provides a cleaner, crisper route, and judging by the attention it’s been getting it’s set for the late-summer essential tune slot. Ben’s been part of the Manchester scene for a while, and as co-creator of record shop and label Purp & Soul, he’s released on Development and Electronique, but this EP should take it up a number of notches.
Placing such a distinctive vocal at the centre of the track lets the melodies weave around it, and Pearce carefully sits the glowing bassline, keys and mid-range back in the mix to allow it to dominate, slowly turning up the heat but never overtaking its beauty, either in the Radio Edit or full Club Mix. Three superb remixes take different paths, with stablemate Harry Wolfman’s mix heading back to ‘94 with strings, rides and notes that drag it back two decades, while Below’s Adam Shelton goes on a dark, acid-tinged trip that marries low squelches with a driving percussion track and gives it previously unheard menace. The pick comes from PBR Streetgang’s Bonar Bradberry, who strips back the track to a low-end workout, drenching the vocal in reverb and applying some muscular groove, letting the snare snap through the depths to add punch. Fantastic.
