Maya Jane Coles – No Sympathy

Anything new from Maya Jane is always cause for TIWWD's ears to prick up and this latest – for Mexico's Elite Records – doesn't disappoint.

In its original form, No Sympathy is a deep, driving tech-house groove, topped with European-sounding spoken vox from a woman – presumably MJC herself, seeing as no-one else is credited – who's been done wrong and isn't best pleased about it ("you used to get me high/now everything we had has died/no sympathy from me inside/now I just want to make cry"). And it's every bit as good as you're probably expecting from Ms Coles.

Remix-wise, Djuma Soundsystem are up first with a rub that takes us into even deeper, late-night territory. Matthew Burdon & Kate Rathod's Dub Mix takes up the original's slight garage swing and runs with it, transforming No Sympathy into a down and dirty rumpshaker for those lights-down-low sessions, while finally rising Mexican star Holly serves up a mix that's a touch more "deep n' funky" than "deep n' techy" but certainly no less an order-to-dance than MJC's original.

A very fine release that goes to further establish Mexico's place on the deep house map.

Out: This week

About: You can find Elite Records on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Holly – An Owl On My Piano

I'm not sure Mexican label Elite Records have featured on here before… or if they have I don't recall. But let's rectify that right now.

An Owl On My Piano itself is a solid-enough driving tech-house workout, though I will say I'm preferring Argenis Brito's stripped n' dubby rerub to the slightly more hectic and more out-and-out techno original. She's Overdosed is, as befits the title, a somewhat darker cut that Simon Reynolds would probably call 'redolent of dystopian paranoia' or something… we'll settle for just 'darker', shall we? It's not the kind of thing I'd instinctively play myself but I'm quite prepared to believe that if I ever found myself dancing in a wooded glade at a 'teknival' in Serbia or somewhere, it would suddenly sound like the best record in the world. I can see that happening, yeah*.

But the real gem for me on this release is Break Yourself. Heading off at a complete tangent from the rest of the EP, this is an unashamed party track based around a hefty sample from The Message. This might not be the one to get the chin-strokers excited but it'll be the one to get the girls on the floor, believe.

Out: This week

About: You can find Elite Records on Facebook. Despite this being ER097, it's apparently the first Elite release from a Mexican producer, which they seem pretty happy about. I'm surprised it's taken that long but this IS, to be fair, a release to be happy about anyway.

*By which I mean, I can see myself loving this record in the right place at the right time. I don't mean I could actually see myself GOING to a 'teknival' in Serbia. Still, never say never eh?