Smak – Summer Of Love EP Vol 4

Where the Anderson Noise single (below) sees the Brazilian techno dude in slightly housier mode than usual, Steve McCready AKA Smak, goes the other way and serves up what's possibly the most techified EP in the Summer Of Love series to date.

It's still good though, and with five original tracks on offer you get your money's worth as well! Halfway opens proceedings, getting things underway with its melodic and slightly proggy vibe. So Bad is next, a dusty, layered groove inna deep/tech house stylee, before Tenon takes us into more jacking, more overtly technoid pastures. Part Of Me, featuring John Morrison, is a deeper, dubbier kinda techno with lashings of rave-y sub-bass, while closing out the EP is (appropriately enough) In The End, which again has something of a floaty, proggy vibe about it.

Four releases in, you should know whether or not you're digging the Summer Of Love series by now. If you are, as I am, then this latest installment won't disappoint.

Out: This week

About: This comes of course on Hype Muzik.

Danny Quattro – No More

As with Patrick Podage & Buraq's A Piece Of Paper EP a couple of weeks back, this is a bit techier than we've come to expect from Savoir Faire Musique. But perhaps not as much so as that one was.

In its Original form, No More is a tuff-ish, chuggy affair with one of those very 'now', very treated and breathy vocals. But if that doesn't take your fancy, fear not cos a brace of TIWWD faves do the remix honours in style. Steve McCready AKA Smak takes us into throbbing, loopy and acid-tinged territory with a mix that cries out for dry ice, strobe lights and a basement, while if that's too techno-leaning for ya then Stanny Abrams' Late Night Dub is housier, with tribal-ish percussion and new female vocal elements.

Three quite different mixes then, but three solid floor-shakers all the same.

Out: This week

About: You can find Savoir Faire Musique on Facebook and Soundcloud. The producers among you might be particularly interested to read this recent post on the former:

currently looking for demos on a more tougher, techier kinda vibe for our sub label which launches soon...demos to savoirfaireuk@gmail.com

PS Cos I was playing this, Quattro's previous offering Contact just came on after, the Lee Pennington Mix to be precise. I'd forgotten quite how good it was. So there's another one to check out if you didn't before.

Proggy bizniss

Okay, after a couple of days this week where I didn't get round to doing any blogging we're a bit behind… so gonna take a different approach and group some stuff together today.

First up, a couple of bits n' bobs on slightly proggier tip, kicking off with the Summer Of Love Part 3 EP from Smak AKA Steve McCready. The third in what's been a strong series, this has four tracks, with the deeper, housier side of prog – or the proggier side of deep house, depending how you see it – being the general order of the day.

The Garnier-esque drama of Everytime We Touch and the energising throb of Feeling stand out but all four tracks are very playable.

Out: This week

About: This comes atcha courtesy of Hype Muzik

Next up is Fallin', which comes from Namatjira featuring Royal Sapien. I'll be honest and say I'm not really into the main vocal mix so much, it's a bit Ibiza-prog-by-numbers with a slighty too-white vocal… it's not terrible, it just doesn't excite me much. Personally.

But that's okay, cos flip it over and you'll find a far more satisfactory Dub, which drops the vocals and takes a generally more heads-down, 4am floataway kind of approach. To rather good effect.

Out: This week

About: This one's on Low Bit Records, which was formed in Sweden in 2008 but is now based in London

Smak AKA Steve McCready - The Summer Of Love EP 2

Some quality house vibes as ever here from Steve McCready, coming on Hype Muzik.

There's four tracks on offer. Bundle is a mid-paced affair with chopped, looped female vocal snippets and a lead M1 organ riff… which means it was never really gonna fail with this reviewer! Deeper Shades Of Violet is as the name suggests a deeper, more late-night/post-club kinda cut, working a gentle melodic groove and some vaguely Balearic/nu-disco-ish synths. Do It Again is a bouncier tech-house with hints of disco around the edges, and then finally Disco In The House… well that's another tin-says-does number but it does what it does well (and it's far more 'cool nu-disco' than 'cheesy disco-house', just in case you were worried).

I saw someone's feedback on this one that just said, "It's Smak, nuff said!" I can see where the poster was coming from, put it that way. If you're not already keeping an eye on this guy, you should be.

Out: This week

About: You can find Hype Muzik at the Stripped Muzik Club blog.

Smak AKA Steve McCready – The Summer Of Love

Some cool, largely instrumental house grooves here from a man who really does need to make up his name as to what he wants to be called… typing "Smak AKA Steve McCready" every time is a nuisance!

But that's the only grumble I've got with this EP. There are four tracks on offer, which between them straddle the borders between deep, tech and progressive house, with the emphasis perhaps on the latter, and which collectively demonstrate Mr McCready's flair for lush, musical productions.

Not gonna do a track-by-track cos time's short, but the drifty and Balearic-leaning Audio Input stands out to these ears.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Hype Muzik, which as you know is the most techno arm of the Stripped Muzik empire, but rest assured this is an EP that will please househeads and the techno massive in equal measure. Anyway, the best place to find Hype Muzik online is at the Stripped Muzik blog.

Source Of Soul – This Way

The name kind of gives you a hint here… but then it kinda doesn't as well, cos this isn't soulful house as such, as you might expect. It's just deep house music that's absolutely throbbing with soul.

'Throbbing' is the operative word, as the original of This Way is based primarily around a MASSIVE organ bassline straight outta 1995. It's topped off with echo-ing male vocal stabs, understated piano chords and the most sparse, stripped and echoey beats you can imagine… a dubbed-out treat for those 'proper head' types and no mistake guv'nor! Over on the B, you'll find a remix from Smak AKA Steve McCready, who takes us into synthier territory… this might be the one the Berlin and East London hipsters go for, I think, but it's those retro organs all the way for me.

Always is, to be fair.

Out: This week

About: This comes on a label who are certainly no strangers to this blog, Savoir Faire Musique, and you can HEAR IT on their Soundcloud page.

Smak - Data Traveller EP

The first release on a new label, I believe – or at least, I've not come across Dance Through Life Records before and it's catalogue number DTLR001, so I'm guessing they're new. It comes from Smak, AKA Steve McCready.

In fact, Data Traveler itself is taken from last year's debut album, Addicted To… , so its dark, moody tech-house vibe may already be familiar to some of you. It's accompanied here, though, by three brand-new tracks. Sensation, with its female vocal whoops, space disco/sci-fi synths and warm, organic-sounding bassline is the housiest of the three and probably my favourite cut on the EP, but Take No More, which blurs the deep/prog boundaries, is also very strong, while the unashamed out-and-out prog of Soul Nuts brings the EP to a suitably driving, euphoric close.

All told, a solid EP, different tracks from which are likely to find favour with different DJs, proving that this young Irish producer is no one-trick pony.

Out: This week

About: Having now found Dance Through Life online I can confirm that this is indeed their first release… the next one will be coming soon from a Mr Pepper and you can HEAR both at their Soundcloud page. They're based in NYC and can also be found on Facebook.