It’s fitting that this new label from never-hotter New Zealand kicks off with an EP called Fantail. The native birds are renowned for their curiosity, latching on to walkers and following them through native forests.

This release, from Kiwi producer Sean Murray, does a similar job, enveloping you in its warmth and daring you to ignore its charms.

It’s heady as well as hooky - certainly worth checking out if you’re into the work of fellow NZ producers Chaos in the CBD and Eden Burns.

The title cut is propelled by layers of percussion - bongos, cowbells and the like - and a gently-relentless synth motif emulating the fantail’s trilling call. Flecks of distorted sax and washes of lush synths build the mood.

Second cut Little Hooky is a more driving affair, built around a not-quite-so-gently-relentless bassline that grips early and doesn’t let go. This is serious heads-down, after-dark tackle with clever use of vocal snatches providing the light.

Murray has indigenous Maori heritage - a culture which prizes music. Watching family sing and play instruments was his gateway to musical expression, but seeing Mixmaster Mike DJ on TV kickstarted an obsession with club culture that’s run to 30 years and counting.

Hooky is his latest pseudonym after releases as Mr Hooky, Soulfoundation and more on a string of labels. As one of the brains behind Electric Orange, expect much more to come.

Fantail

Hooky-Fantail

Reed & Radley - Keep On/Headstones

If deep and driving's your bag, here are two gems from Chris Reed and the late, great Paul Radley - among the final tracks the pair produced together in person.

There's a hint of Wild Pitch about Keep On, with its reversed stabs, rides and soulful vocal refrain. That's fitting given that New York and New Jersey house and garage were key early influences for the veteran duo. It's powered by a rubbery synth riff that ebbs and flows until some jiggery-pokery with the filter sends fizzing stabs whizzing through the mix.

Headstones brings the tribal vibes. A slow build features layer upon layer of percussion and cannily deployed conga fills, but it's the main riff that generates the real intensity. What starts as a relatively gentle series of organ stabs gets the layer treatment too, with a series of increasingly tough sounds adding punch and power. The crucial, final element is some twisted chant-style vocalising which will take the more - ahem - refreshed floors to another place altogether.

Serious underground tackle for late-night, head-down dancers.

Keep On

Keep On (Original Mix)

Headstones

Mono/Loco - Sisley's Groove EP

Mono/Loco's second release is a deep treat for lovers of raw underground grooves.
Featuring two very different versions of the title track, it's a showcase for the New Zealand-based DJ/producer's distinct take on heady, hypnotic house.
The Go Deeper mix is powered by a swinging, conga-driven rhythm section and rolling bassline. Call-and-response synth stabs and woozy washes of vocal build the intensity, with a nagging acid line lurking on the flipside of a catch-your-breath breakdown.
The Hypnotic Pulse Mix isn't far from being a different track. With a dustier, lo-fi feel to the drums, the acid line and the titular pulse provide the musical spine. Gently filtered pads and yearning vocals complete the overhaul.
Sisley's Groove follows Mono/Loco's debut release, Step Into My Life, on Electric Orange's sister imprint Grass Green Recordings. Both are part of the Auckland-based Natural Rhythms family of labels.

Sisley's Groove

Sisley's Groove (Hypnotic Pulse Mix)

Sisley's Groove (Go Deeper Mix)

One of New Zealand’s longest-running house music brands, Electric Orange started almost 20 years ago as a free party for the beamers, dreamers and schemers of the Auckland scene.
What they dreamed up next were Sunday afternoon sessions, Saturday night shindigs and - finally - a record label with a growing reputation for deep and driving underground grooves.
It’s the natural place for Mono/Loco - one of the many aliases of label co-founder and resident DJ Chris Reed - to release his tribute to all those who put Electric Orange on the musical map, particularly founder Andy Vann.
The Saturday Night Mix is custom-built for smoky basement action, powered by rolling percussion, propulsive rhodes and a hypnotic single-note bass riff complemented by a syncopated acid line. Squelchy, filtered stabs and strings add further layers of warmth in the second half.
But it’s the vocal that brings everything together, conveying emotion, meaning and soul in two superbly deployed lines.
The Sunday Afternoon Mix is a wobbly disco-tinged treat - proper tablet tackle if that’s the kind of things that floats your boat.
Built around an ascending old-school bassline and expertly filtered loops it’s both of its time and redolent of the late 90s US house sound that remains one of the Mono/Loco touchstones.

Theme From Electric Orange

Theme From Electric Orange (Saturday Night Mix)

Theme From Electric Orange (Sunday Afternoon Mix)

Chris Reed follows up his hit Lounacy EP (#1 deep house, Juno Download) with a superb salvo of peak-time deep house goodness for Electric Orange.

Unframed Pedantry juxtaposes super-smooth instrumentation with stomping conga-driven drums and a proper throbber of a sub bass.

On the original mix, a filtered loop and punchy stabs sets the tone, with picked percussive guitar and rolling Hammond organ licks completing the music canvas. The finishing touch is a glassy-eyed vocal promising that “love is what we need”.

The dub lengthens the build, rations the stabs and drops the vocal, creating a more intense, yet still smooth experience for locked-in floors.

Unframed Pedantry is the latest release from the Natural Rhythms family of labels, which also includes Grass Green, Black Sands and Red Snapper. Like Electric Orange, all take their names from Aotearoa-New Zealand’s beautiful natural environment.

Only the second solo release under his own name, Chris has an array of aliases, including Mono/Loco and Neuro Mas. He’s also released - with Paul Radley - as Reed & Radley, Monkey Boots and Shallow Taxi Club.

Unframed Pedantry

Unframed Pedantry (dub 4 vanny)

Unframed Pedantry (Dub 4 Vanny)

Mono/Loco returns to Electric Orange with a heady hit of peak-time deep house and a fresh twist on an old favourite.

The former is Atoll, a juicy juxtaposition of smooth stabs and burbling analogue action riding a woody, insistent bassline.

FX and automation keep the acidic analogue lines moving, evolving, growing in intensity - setting the stage for a politically charged vocal that remains as relevant now as when it was recorded some six decades ago.

The Chris Reed remix of Sisley’s Groove provides a new take on a track that hit number one on Juno Download.

There’s more juxtaposition here, the organic groove, classic sorta subby bass and yearning vocal offset by punches of gently modulating piano, spectral synths and trippy FX. It’s warm and cool at the same time, like a very welcoming Inuit.

This is Mono/Loco’s fifth release and third for Electric Orange. Key previous outings have included Step Into My Life, Theme From Electric Orange and Heroic Dancefloor.

Atoll

Sisley's Groove (Chris Reed Remix)

Electric Orange Minimix- Mixed by Chris Reed

Auckland-based Electric Orange is a showcase for the never-hotter house sound of New Zealand.

A platform for established producers and rising stars, the label is part of the Natural Rhythms family of imprints that also features Grass Green and Black Sands.

Its mission is deep, driving and chuggy house music for late nights and early mornings.

Key artists include Reed & Radley, Mono Loco, Hooky and Darren Clark
https://linktr.ee/electricorange

Electric Orange

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