Heartik At Juno Download

Review: Tech-house may be an often maligned term, but on Meltdown, Heartik invokes the term's older meaning. Heavy drums and crashing snares lead the arrangement into a chord-heavy breakdown and when the "Big Fun"-like keys kick in, it sounds unlike all the monochrome releases trading under that name. Mihai Popoviciu's version lends the track a harder, techy feeling, while "Far from Chicago" sees Heartik return to the early 90s. Curiously though, the track has more to do with New York than Chicago, with its heavy tribal drums, sassy vocals and insidious bassline creating a perfect Tenaglia groove. Finally, Spencer Parker's reshape takes "Chicago" deeper, but the use of firing percussion means that it too remains true to the original spirit of tech-house.

Review: Listening to the title track, it's clear that Alessio Meschieri aka Heartik is a proponent of the kitchen sink approach to production. Starting off with dubby beats, it veers into whooshing filters, breaks down to the sound of Villalobos-esque horn samples and, just in case the listener still wants more, Meschieri adds in some chopped up vocals. "Mini Swing" is less unpredictable, featuring a walking bass and filtered stabs leading into a build up - as are the jacking, disco-inflected versions of "Grenadilla" by Kaiserdisco and Uto Karem - but Heartik reveals his playful nature again on "Malibeth", where dark horn stabs complement the insistent rhythm.