Review:
The new Crossover Series from the Sound Pellegrino crew makes for a canny and eye opening endeavour, offering the chance for like-minded producers from different paths the chance to collaborate together with the aim of "crossing the invisible bridges of the great house music archipelago". The standard for the series is set truly high on the inaugural release that sees Alex Bok Bok Sushon team up with Tom Trago for the Night Voyage Tool Kit EP. The six tracks see Trago and Sushon deliver heavily, stripped down drum trax informed by a love of Dancemania era Chicago House. At times the results are playful; see the opening track "Pathfinder" - little more than the duo checking out how pliable the rubbery analogue tone at the core is, with drums stripped down to a hissing undercurrent. More structure is evident on the skeletal "White Type R", which slowly unfurls into compressed head jack material, though that playful sense of melody creeps through intermittently. As the EP progresses, the overarching feeling you get from this release is two producers becoming increasingly comfortable working together - see how the vocoder led "Time Master" unexpectedly bursts into a percolating 23rd century p-funk out. It's obviously just the start of much more from the duo, with Trago revealing the duo will continue their Night Voyage endeavours in some shape or form.