Review: The latest missive from Constant Sound's consistently interesting Aesthetic offshoot delivers four tracks of high-quality dancefloor fusion, where dreamy and melodic deep house sounds wrap around typically swung tech-house beats. It's an attractive formula provided by French duo Mara Lakour - most famous for their releases on Roots For Bloom and Normandy Records - and one they should considering exploring further in future. We're particularly enjoying the title track, where ethereal female vocal snippets seemingly drift above comforting chords and wriggling acid lines, and the billowing, marimba style melodies of 'Dune', though other cuts 'Elsewhere' and 'Alodret', the latter a locked-in trip into hypnotic early morning territory, are also rather good.
Review: Aix en Provence-based imprint STRCTR first tickled our fancy last year with a trio of ear-pleasing, floor-friendly EPs. Since two of those were multi-artist, compilation style affairs, it's little surprise to find that release number four is similarly structured. First up, Alva wraps jaunty, jazzy synth riffs and sun-kissed guitars around a bouncy and swinging deep house groove ("The Wall"), before Armless Kid delivers the kind of smooth and quietly soulful instrumental deep house number that could once have graced the B-side of a Prescription release. Thanks to some ear-catching acid motifs and fluid, near fluttering chords, Mara Lakour's "Timecode" has a much more futurist, deep space feel, while Ortella's "Digital Detox" wraps decidedly intergalactic, dub techno style motifs around a thumping, peak-time ready rhythm track.
Review: England's Roots For Bloom imprint has been pushing straight-up deep house since 2012, and they've been known to pull new artists out of the hat on a regular basis. This time, Mara Lakour gets her debut and she delivers four exquisite cuts, starting with the swingin-jack that is "Clark St", followed swiftly by the jazzy tones of "Casablanca". Flip the wax over and you got the pumping Chicago flavor of "A Tribute To GU" - that's Glenn Underground in case you didn't notice - and the moodier, more ethereal vibes of "Livin' Proof". A class act.
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