Review: It's early days for Jakob Panthel and his Faune alias, but he more than steps up to the plate as London label Ornate Music invite him to present his vision for immersive, techno tinged deep house. "5.34 AM" is aptly named, the undulating chord pulse at the heart of the track aiming for the woozy hour of the dance before dawn breaks through. "Reduit" is a more sprightly affair, using similar ingredients but pushing a brighter line in synths amidst the raw drums. "Grindewald" meanwhile heads out into more ambient techno territory with its plush pads and snaking arpeggios, soothing the feisty club-ready energy of the previous two tracks.
Review: Gauss is made up of Chicago's Natan H and Owen Jay, the main man behind the Batti Batti label and countless other high grade deep and leftfield house and techno variations. The vibe is crisp and machine-powered on this collaborative EP, which follows previous appearances on Hizou Deep Rooted Music and Contrast-Wax, leading in with the punchy but mellow electro excursion "Maximum Entropy". There is a shuffle at work on "Bimodal" but still the Detroit influences are at the front and centre of the mix. "Piecewise Dub" veers off into spacious, experimental territory where the beats come second to the strafing synth work, and then "Dweller" finishes things off with some bare bones machine funk.
Review: The latest Ornate Music offering sees the welcome return of HomePark duo Rob Glassett and Sam Fussell, last seen on the label with the Fill Emptiness EP in 2012. Since then, HomePark have gone on to issue just the one release, Untitled for Courtesy Of Balance, whilst Glassett developed his Fold project, making this return to Ornate most welcome. The style Glassett and Fussell deal in remains ever consistent, fusing crisp machine rhythms with plush chords and strings, using the finest ingredients to whip up impeccable house music to burrow comfortably into any number of nocturnal situations. With melodic soul at its core, this EP carries the Ornate message on perfectly from previous flag-bearers Ka One & St-Sene and Jordan in a blissful blur of blue-hued synths and bumping drums.
Review: Jayson Wynters is best known for his recent work on Don't Be Afraid, but the Birmingham resident has also been spotted on Mr G's Phoenix G label and elsewhere. Now he brings his smooth, undulating style of deep house to Ornate, fitting right in alongside the likes of Sota, Gauss and Faune with the immersive pulse and swooping pads of "Ancient Tones." "Jet Lagged" is a true trip-out affair with a bassline to sink into and chord washes that reach skywards, and then Caldera comes on board for a remix of "Ancient Tones" that works some crafty broken beats into the mix for a distinctive, wholly different outcome to the original.
Review: Originally a vinyl release last year, this classy EP by Brooklyn's Jordan is now getting a new lease of life. Although the producers around him are savouring a more raw, analogue sound, he favours a smoother, deeper approach, a point he makes on the Meanwhile In Ridgewood EP. There are four originals here: the title track's Andrex-soft, cloud surfing trance, the minimal and intricate gentle techno of "Sophie", the haunted, linear tech-house of "Through The Fog and the atmospheric "Visage". Leif also remixes the latter, giving it a bit more welly in the process.
Review: Renowned duo Ka One and St Sene present their latest offering, Inside Silent EP, via Ornate Records rather than their own Flyance label. The four new tracks here have a distinct and reassuring retro feel. The title track is almost nine minutes of smooth, techy, Larry Heard-style ecstasy house. "404 Page Not Found" is a late night mechanical snake, slithering around in a creepy, linear fashion, "F/ck The Hype" is the soundtrack for every self-respecting '90s clothes shop and "Facing You" is slo-mo tech with touchy-feely pads, distant piano chords and chiming naive melodies.
Review: Since 2015 Reedale Rise's refined strand of electro and techno has quickly established him as one of the most inventive artists operating in the current crop of machine manipulators coming out of the UK underground. Liverpool-based producer Simon Keat has released a prolific body of work under the alias in a short space of time, notching up appearances on crucial labels such as Frustrated Funk, Hizou, Where We Met and many more besides. With a sound indebted to the early wave of UK techno artists like B12, the electro experimentation of Silicon Scally as well as Detroit forefathers such as Drexciya and Model 500, it's not hard to see why Reedale Rise makes perfect sense on Ornate. Technically astounding and emotionally charged, across all three tracks ORN027 marries shimmering, hi-def synth lines with crisp rhythms spanning 2-step shuffle, broken beats and understated techno propulsion.
Review: Dutch producer Sota is the latest to be snapped up by Ornate Music, presenting his second ever release having first come to light with his own Talaman label earlier in the year. "Subsonica" rides on a tough house groove, keeping the elements as spartan as possible while heading straight into the deep end of the night. "Inverse" is a skippier affair that deals with heavily processed synth flares and a deadly swinging groove, and then "Chatka" finishes the EP off with a dreamy cut peppered with delay processing for the quintessential dubby trip through refined 4/4 dance music.
