North Londoner Hugo Mari isn’t your run-of-the-mill house producer. If you’ve been following his output since his days under the alias Books, you’ll know him to be an accomplished and versatile producer with an appreciation for music in a variety of genres. Following releases on both Heist and Freerange Recordings, “Minds Eye” see’s Hugo returning from the mountain top with two beautifully created and emotive jams, once again taking the helm of his own High Praise imprint, on a departure from their usual edit format.

The EP as a whole is excellent, and “Mind’s Eye” sees Hugo once again join forces with three-time collaborator Zodiac, delivering a soul-drenched, mysterious and hazy jam in his unmistakable falsetto vocal styling.

On the flip, “Kokiri Forest” is a masterclass in chilled-out deep house ripe for a variety of environments. Hugo has a knack for fusing organic elements with driving rhythms and emotive melodies, crafting versatile material that works beautifully either at home or on the dance floor. Personally, I think this would rip in the club, and I’ll be saving it for those late-night moments when eyes are shut and bodies are moving through the haze of an after-hours dancefloor.

Keep an eye out for the drop on December 6th and pre-order it here. In the meantime, add Hugo Mari to your list of producers to pay attention to.

Ryan

Cet article Hugo Mari – Kokiri Forest [High Praise] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Young producer duo Makèz have recently released their debut EP on Heist Recordings, Different Planets. Fusing influences from disco, house and beyond, it’s a release right up there with any on the ever impressive Heist catalogue. We caught up with the duo to get to know a little bit more about them, their process and also asked for some advice for other young aspiring producers. Read the full interview below.

INTERVIEW

Cet article Times & Tunes with Makèz est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

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“E” is a three track EP composed of All The Tension, U+0065, and He. The first aptly titled track is a constantly building one that is easily meant to serve as a dancefloor tool chock-full of hard hitting drums and loopy synths. Our premiere today is U+0065, a darker, atmospheric number. Big shimmering chords and crisp, clean drums really emphasize the duo’s production and mixing skills. Emotive strings play in the background while an acid-tinged lead completes it as a serious late night club track. Finally, the EP closes with He, a beautifully composed piece with a deep bass, swelling chords and glistening percussion that add a sweet touch to the already warm track.

This extremely well rounded EP should see plenty of use in clubs around the world as each track can play a different role in a DJ set. Keep an eye on the live duo’s Bandcamp for the release, dropping in a matter of days.

Igor

Cet article Ouer – U+0065 [Ouer] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

The journey for rising Dutch producer Nachtbraker (or “nighthawk” – soundcloud) has been positively linear thus far. After cutting his teeth as a promoter and local jockey, the Amsterdam-based producer has gone on to build an acclaimed yet almost concise discography rooted in quality over quality. Notable releases on Detroit Swindle’s Heist Recordings and Dirt Crew Recordings have paved the way for Nachtbraker (legal name Maurits Verwoerd) to become a quickly rising name in the deep house scene.

In 2016, Maurits entered the realm of label management, founding the concept imprint Quartet Series. The label boasts an obsessive template of fours: four tracks per release, four artists, four records per concept or “series”. The inaugural series presented vinyl heads with a battle between “Good Guys” and “Bad Guys” throughout the four releases, which were neatly decorated with original comic book-style art on fully printed sleeves. Artwork is of utmost importance to the imprint, as it is custom-made and clearly essential to the concepts at play.

Maurits has employed an evolving vision with Quartet Series. “[At first I wanted to] have everything in fours”, the Dutchman reveals, “four different artists, four tracks, four [records] and concepts.” However, after receiving demos from Scott Franka, Nachtbraker couldn’t resist the package of tracks and decided to forego the V/A concept in favor of an artist EP. And thus came Quartet’s first entry in Bodybuilder series, which features a live bodybuilder that’s been framed and painted in a variety of ways for each EP.

French producer Tell continued the interest in artist EPs after catching the A&R’s attention with a batch of tracks. So, to hell with the original concept, he said. “It can still be a Quartet if you have four tunes and four [records]”, Maurits explains with a smile, “[Some of my friends, like] Lars and Maarten [of Detroit Swindle] were [teasing] me, saying ‘you’ve made it quite hard for yourself with the [Quartet] concept, because now you have to stick to it”.

Nachtbraker seems to have found a way to navigate the shift, though by building two separate Quartets in the artist EP vein: the aforementioned Bodybuilder Series, and the Trophy Series, which Tell’s record kicked off. The latter appears to somewhat emulate the “Good Guys” vibe of the V/As more closely; leaning closer to warm, brighter house sounds. Meanwhile, the former strays closer to the darker and spacey-er sound of the “Bad”. However, Maurits concedes that the musical lines have definitely been blurred between the two sides with the two new series. In any case, it’s clear he’s employing the partitions to allow for the curation of a variety of different sounds and textures.

The upcoming QS release is another Bodybuilder, this time from the hands of Portamento Boys. “It’s actually only one guy”, Maurits reveals, “He’s an old friend of mine [from] when I started making music when I was 16 or 17. . . I always really loved his music and [we] became good friends”. Though it was originally intended for him to join Quartet at the V/A stage under his SAN2 alias, Koos (Portamento Boys) instead joins the roster with a full artist EP. The grip of playful and quirky italo-disco rooted tracks resonated hard with Nachtbraker, “it reflects the way he is [and his sense of humor]. . . and [embodies] a vision I try to put in my own music as well – that sometimes it’s nice to have a laugh”.

Deeper on the label end of things, Nachtbraker describes that WordandSound has been extremely supportive in fulfilling the vision of Quartet Series, and praises his labels of residency, Heist and Dirt Crew, for influencing his management approach with their professionalism. On the A&R side, Maurits cites LuvJam’s Blind Jacks Journey as a major inspiration to his approach to running QS. He explains that the deep and new find approach and perhaps not-obvious vibe of the label is extremely appealing to him, “I’m still finding [old BJJ] records now and listening back and thinking, ‘oh wow this is really good. It’s kind of what I wanted to do with Quartet Series; everyone [is] playing the Good Guys music and no one is playing the Bad Guys music. My hope is that in due time, people will be playing the Bad Guys music”.

The QS bossman reveals that he’ll be at the helm for the second entry of the Trophy Series, due out late Fall. And though it won’t complete a full concept quartet in 2017, it does total to a sum of four records, leaving two more records to go in the respective artist EP lanes. Maurits assures that 2018 will see closure to the Bodybuilder and Trophy Series, though it’s still a mystery as to who’s on board. However, Nachtbraker’s solo entry for QS won’t be the only release we see from him in this calendar year. He’s next on deck for a Heist EP as well; coming with two records after about a year-long pause in record output.

The brief detente was deliberate, he explains, as he indicates he wants to remain mindful of releasing with labels that are suited to his sound and vision. Moreover, Nachtbraker stresses that solo EPs are really the essential product for career advancement, rather than V/A appearances or remix credits. In regards to his own output, the Amsterdam beatsmith emphasizes tight control over his product, recalling, “I used to have a lot of unsigned tunes, and I would just send [labels] everything because I wanted to put out everything I had. But now, I’m much more selective in what I want to put out myself”. The producer also provides some insight on the dangers of saturation, especially in up-and-coming producers, positing that “the more you put out, [especially] in a short amount of time, the less special the tunes get. . . in the end it’s not a good [approach] because you’re scattering your music and maybe putting out some stuff you shouldn’t have put out”.

Indeed, in a game flooded with thirsty new talent, quality control and deliberated release frequency is absolutely paramount. Release too often or too monotonously in sound and you might fall off, release too little and people might forget about you. Nachtbraker seems to have found a balance in his production and label management; seeking to keep reinventing himself (and his Quartet Series) to stay fresh, and hoping to make you long for that next release.

Enough words for now, though, take a dive into our latest MIXED BY, courtesy of Nachtbraker!

Martín

Cet article MIXED BY/ Nachtbraker est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Quartet Series (soundcloud) emerged last year, a seriously good label with a not so serious aesthetic. Nachtbraker first foray into label management was warmly received. They allowed a whole host of established and new producers show their ‘good’ and ‘bad’ side on 4 track comic strip themed vinyl releases. There are many tracks from the 4 releases that float my boat, namely the Ponty Mython, Loz Goddard, Saine and Darko Kustura cuts.

There are labels out there that take themselves a little too seriously so when Quartet series came along, it was like a breath of fresh air. You can tell that a lot of time, effort and love has gone into this project; from the full sleeve artwork and inserts to the actual quality of the music and A&R.

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The next chapter of the Quartet Series story starts with a solo artist EP by relative newcomer Scott Franka (soundcloud) entitled “The Gym”. The track we are premiering today is called Toenail.

Scott’s beats sound like they have been ever-present at the gym, the kick drum has some muscle mass behind it, the clap is meaty and the hats sound larger than life. By contrast, the arps that greet you within the first minute are dreamy and light. This really is a track with impressive synth work, face-melting chord pads, gritty acid style lines, fresh-as-fuck melodies and a host of clever panned effects. The track holds it’s real power in the lower end of the spectrum, glimpses of the bass tease you until around 2 minutes. This is where the full bass sucker punch hits you square in the chest! TKO! Sensory overload! A club stomper, one for the peak time bruisers. Scott Franka is now on my radar and I suggest you stick him on yours too.

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The Gym is due out on 12 “20th March. Pre-order it via  Juno

Cet article PREMIERE : Scott Franka – Toenail [Quartet Series] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.