Deniz Kurtel ft. Guests of Nature – Yeah
We think that photo’s her. It was on her MySpace, anyway…
[Video][Website]
[6.67]
Tal Rosenberg: I’m definitely curious how this made it into here, seeing as that it’s even more electronic-oriented than even the danciest tracks reviewed on SJ. But this is cool! Evenly spaced hard-hitting drum punches and little keyboard gasps. Subdued male diva house vocals sending it back twenty years. This doesn’t quite have the dramatic release of a great house jam, but it fits comfortably as a transition track in a DJ set. Solid.
[7]
Michaelangelo Matos: Super-bare throwback house — all the way back to 1987 or so, when Hercules was telling you to physically touch the body in front of you while everyone else’s pianos went wild and the programmed bass lines thunk-thunk-thunked and the acid squelch was just beginning to take off. This is nice and sleazy: electro-handclaps, stark percussion, one-finger keyboard-bass riff, and a vocal riff (“Just enjoy yourself, get high on the end of day, yay-yay”) all calling up the feeling of those old Trax and DJ International records as well as their sound, even as the production gets glossier and dubbier as it progresses.
[9]
Chuck Eddy: This space and echo and disembombied yet still somehow humane vocals here remind me a little of what artsy New York dance weirdos like Arthur Russell and the Peech Boys and Strafe were doing in the early ’80s, a couple years before house music exploded. That’s good, and the sounds in the song definitely evolve as they go along, too. But I still can’t get excited about it; can’t shake the feeling that, by now, what’s going on here is somehow generic — or, at very least, that it’s not inventing anything like those ’80s guys were. I reserve the option, though, to be swayed one way or the other if the Jukebox consensus says it’s great or worthless.
[7]
Martin Skidmore: Tech-house of a deep sound, almost like a dubby, spacey Inner City sound a lot of the time. I know nothing of her other than that she is Turkish, and nothing at all of the Guests, but I really like this. The singing is kind of spacey too, and the whole thing, despite being rather minimal and technical, has an appealing warmth and mellowness.
[8]
Anthony Easton: Pleasant, decorative, anonymous, in a barely post disco kind of way.
[4]
Kat Stevens: This would fit neatly on a mix between some classic Chicago House and a 2007 Claude Von Stroke track; the huge gaps where nothing happens would be perfect for plonking something a) muckier b) more banging over the top of that lovely bassline.
[7]
Doug Robertson: This’ll probably be pretty decent if they ever get round to actually finishing it.
[4]
Tom Ewing: Languid house workout offering you plenty of time to admire each passing snare – very far from unpleasant, though after politely declining one request to get high on the energy (what energy?) I’d prefer not to be asked again.
[6]
Mark Sinker: “Energy” sung with a good hard g; everything else shaped to that. I assume this type of retro process-house has a snappy species name so that fans don’t wander into the wrong club on the wrong night on the wrong drug. Replicant percussion all tantalus rigour: not life-like, exactly not, but stronger-seeming for the consciously inadvertent mimicry of life.
[8]
Tom asks: where’s the energy? I hear this arrangement just STIFF with energy: potential energy, created (“caused to be stored”, scolds my inner physics student) as more and more has been stripped out of the song. My first attempt at a metaphor last night was Jenga, just before at the point of collapse — you’ve taken out all these blocks and the structure remaining is pregnant with the coming tumble; the bricks are trembling with this readiness to give up their stored energy. Except Jenga is a misleading metaphor, because the jenga-tower is so raggedy and wobbly when it falls; and this is so much the opposite of raggedy. It’s all inner sprung tension: I’m trying to think of a classic-era process minimalist electronic work that does this, builds by algebraic subtraction — but I can’t (because very few of them had any sense of rhythmic drive).
I like this a lot and would’ve gone with an 8.
Oh this is GREAT, hadn’t really clocked what it was but it’s exactly the kind of thing Tama Sumo, Prosumer et al play in their sets. And there’s a ton of energy in it!
The energy a little TOO potential for me I fear – this is the first Jukebox track that has literally sent me to sleep. (Though in a good way! – I found it hypnotic and likeable, but so much so that I dozed off.)
And I gotta say, even if I detect remnants of Strafe/Peech Boys/Dinosaur L (and Matos detects Hercules’ “7 Ways,” and Skidmore detects Inner City, both of which I also love), and even if (as several comments here suggest) this isn’t in fact generic, I really don’t think this track comes anywhere near the level of all those ’80s precedents — and it’s not only because they were doing something brand new and these people aren’t. Wish I could pinpoint why exactly it comes short — though right, more energy would probably help.
If anyone wants to hear this track in situ, you’re not going to do better than Anja Schneider’s fantastic deep-house primer, a.k.a. Bodytonic Podcast 071: http://www.bodytonicmusic.com/podcasts/2010/feb/23/bodytonic-podcast-071-anja-schneider/
I’d go along with that, Frank – lots of vintage Inner City singles would be easy 10s for me. I still really like this, though.
Ha ha, I think you meant me, not Frank. But yeah, “Good Life,” “Big Fun,” “Set It Off,” “Comin’ From Another Place,” “Don’t Make Me Wait,” “Go Bang!,” “Let’s Go Swimming,” “Kiss Me Again,” “7 Ways” — those would probably all be 9s or 10s for me, and so would lots of early Trax and DJ International singles. But this is still a 7 or 8, which isn’t bad.
Just found this site. If you like this then find out more about Guests of Nature. New releases out with Mendez & Muna. The Yeah Track isnt really my cup of tea. The original is from my track Superchunk which is a Downtempo dub style track, also there is a Dance version by Italian house group Musicbump. Keep an eye out for me as ive got stuff cooking for release this summer.. gonna be hot!