Audio Love 30.4.15

Tilman – Transmission EP (Klamauk)

If you read this column regularly you’ll know I start pretty much every week saying “If you read this column regularly…” so I’m not going down that road this time.

German heartthrob Tilman is set to drop an EP of very high quality house music on his own imprint Klamauk in a couple of weeks time and it’s one of his best yet. Every time I hear something new from him it seems to get better and better and this is no exception.

The EP kicks off with “Voyager” which is a lush, open groover with lovely deep chords and wistful piano licks. Next up “Eruption” is a laid back chugger centering around a tasty disco loop with the odd sax and vocal snip added in for good measure. Finally on the A side we have “Landed” which has a lovely, rounded bassline and swirly pads. Over on the flip the mood darkens with the eerie acid of “Outer Space” and the heads down pumper of “Meteoric Hall”. I love that this EP takes in a variety of moods and colors, and there’s definitely something for everyone here. Excellent stuff and you should check it when it drops. Oh and the cover is excellent, designed by the consummate talent that is Karsten Brommenschenkel.

Out 26^th  May on wax (and I guess digi too)

Leif – Life Through Analogies (Idle Hands)

Now here’s a good match if ever I saw one. Leif has been one of my favourite artists for a while now with his understated forays into deep, hypnotic house music and it’s great to see him team up with Bristol record shop-come-label-come-institution Idle Hands for this excellent EP.

We open with the title track and it sees Leif in quite a stripped back mood. We don’t have the usual deep layers of texture that are his trade mark but the focus is on a sparse rhythm and an extremely lovely, meandering sub bass. With “My Heart Stopped Beating” though the silky texture is back, with layers of hiss, ample reverb and melancholic chords to die for. There’s also a nice little nod to his own label Until My Heart Stops’ name in the title. Clever. Rounding things off we’ve got “Salix” which is the most emotionally ambiguous of the three, with a sparse broken beat, garbled rhythms and distorted chords. Lovely.

Out 18th May on wax. No clips of this one I'm afraid so you'll have to trust me. Pre-order here

WK7 – Washer (Power House)

Originating in Frankfurt, Rene Pawlowitz is a man of many aliases, with Shed and Head High being two of the most well known. He’s just dropped a quality two tracker on his excellent Power House imprint and it’s up to the usual high standards as you’d expect. Highly playable, classic but non-derivative house pumpers all the way.

Out now on wax 

Akra – Blossom EP (Rebirth)

Nick Woolfson AKA Akra is the commander in chief of the excellent Teng records and he’s ready to drop an EP on the powerhouse of house that is Rebirth. All three tracks are cool but it’s Mission Creep with its squelchy bassline and jazzy chords that does the biz for me the most. Cracking stuff.

Out now – digi only