Tuesday 23 August 2011

Midicult - House Of Music

I hate people that over-use the word 'stunning'. The phone on your camera, for instance, does not "enable you to capture stunning images". It's okay for taking snapshots, is all. So when I say that this debut-not-debut release from Midicult (more on that in a mo') is indeed stunning, you'll know I'm not using that word lightly.

Opener Bathtub Gin is a midpaced tech-house groover, with a slightly syncopated, garage-y feel and chopped-up female vocal snippets alongside a male voice repeating the EP title from time to time. It's quality stuff and it'll have you bouncing in your seat for sure. Then there's Wooden Collar Paper Tie, which comes in no fewer than five mixes – the original, plus rubs from Groovik, Pete Weasel, People Get Real and Melos & Kyber. Some of 'em lean a little too far towards the minimal/glitchy/techy side of things for these ears, but the old skool Balearic-meets-acid house of M&K's mix is definitely worth a shout.

But the reason this is getting such glowing praise – including the dreaded S-word – is Suntrap, a quite remarkable slab of deep/minimal techno that I'm not even gonna try and describe. To appreciate its sparse, dubbed-out beauty, you really need to sit, like I did while slaving at the day job today, and listen to it in headphones four or five times on the bounce.

Couple Suntrap with Bathtub Gin, and this EP's a no-brainer.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Geordie label 22 Digit, about whom you can find out all you need to know on Soundcloud and Facebook.

As for Midicult himself… apparently it's a new alias for "a well-known producer who prefers to keep this latest project more secretive" and no, I honestly don't know who that is. Still, we all love a mystery, don't we?

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