Nine Lives At Juno Download

Review: Not to be confused with the Noughties electro-house pairing of Matt Schwartz & Jonathan Ulysses, this Nine Lives is aspiring DJ Nick Shaw, who has been slowly building a reputation for himself with his formula of accessible piano-driven house and melodic female pop vocals. Again, "Centro" is in keeping with this approach, but hey if it ain't broke...This time in addition to the above we get searing synth lines, punk-funk bass and some great disco lasers.

Review: Take one cutesy R&B style pop vocal, a bunch of bright house pianos and a slick nu-disco backing track. Stir well. You now have your very own copy of Nine Lives' "Cloud Nine", one of two toe-tapping, head-nodding productions featured on this latest Vendition Records release. The other cut, "Heart Break Move Shake", inhabits similar ground, but includes a soaring pop vocal that wouldn't have been out of place on a classic '80s synthpop jam. It feels like the sort of thing you'd hear blaring from a beachside bar in Rimini, while an attractive waiter/waitress (delete as appropriate) brings you something long, tasty and ice cold.

Review: If you've ever wondered what a fusion of Stevie Wonder style clavinets, old skool electro breaks and the party-hearty rumble of hip-house would sound like (we certainly have, though not on that many occasions), this single from Nine Lives delivers an emphatic answer. It's excellent, as it turns out, with booming analogue bass and cheeky clavs propelling the action towards the dancefloor with the air of a drunken man desperately searching for a playmate. There's little remarkably new about it, but Nine Lives' deft production guarantees good times throughout. For the record, there's a solid instrumental included for those who don't like the rap.

Review: Nine Lives is producer/DJ Nick Shaw who has been spinning across the globe for the last 15 years. He's only recently entered the world of production though, but things have been going well since his debut 1985 - The Edits dropped earlier this year. This new tune, "What Would She Do" is his most ambitious yet, eschewing his previously beloved samples for a more straight up pop dance number. Boasting strong multi-layered female vocals that sit a top a summery feelgood backdrop in the vein of Fred Falke, we could be looking at a crossover hit here!