Duke Dumont At Juno Download

Review: The reinvention of Tiga's label continues with this excellent house release. Duke Dumont is known as a remixer of bands, but he proves his worth on "No Money Blues". A glorious stop-start deep house / techno groove, its spacey synths recall Jamie Read at the height of his powers and the soulful, plaintive vocals from Extra Curiccular will remind older listeners of classic House of 909 material. "The Giver" meanwhile is darker, its resonating bassline unfolding over doubled-up beats and an unidentified but haunting vocal saying 'makes me want to give into it.' We know how that feels.

Review: Since his emergence, Duke Dumont has been notable mostly for a lack of material, choosing to hint at his obvious talent on a series of infrequent releases and remixes for a well respected and disparate range of labels including Turbo, Tigersushi, Phantasy Sound and Dubsided. It is on Tiga's evergreen label Turbo that we might finally get a conclusive insight into the musical mind of the Duke with a series of four EPs promised over the coming months entitled For Club Play Only. The debut instalment has been preceded with some fanfare thanks to requisite "club play" of lead track "Street Walker" from Turbo's circle of premiere DJs like Erol Alkan. That advance hyperbole is justified as the track is immense, lifting a sample about prostitution and weaving it around a mutant warehouse groove. It's followed by the equally accomplished "Thunderclap" which wouldn't sound out of place on a KiNK record and an electro funked alternate take on "Street Walker".

Review: Duke Dumont's "The Giver", first released on his For Club Play Only (Part 2) EP earlier in the year, gets touched-up by Tiga, Lando Kal and Gingy & Bordello. Tiga kick starts the party, dropping a rework that pairs together murky low-end pressure and touchy-feely pads with choice elements of the original (in particular, the spine-tingling, rave-era vocal sample). Occasional Hotflush type Lando Kal flips the script, delivering a bubbling techno version that harks back to the glory days of star-kissed Detroit futurism whilst retaining a contemporary feel. Gingy and Bodello, meanwhile, strip the track back to its bare bones, overlaying fuzzy, distorted vocal hits over a gritty, balls-out techno groove.