Clockwork

Clockwork (Daniele Baldelli Remix)

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@jackpries_t

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HMLTD- Is This What You Wanted (Jack Priest Club Edit)

Whisper it quietly, but Andrew Meecham’s ninth album as The Emperor Machine, Island Boogie, may well be the long-serving producer’s strongest set to date. Of course, all his albums ripple with vintage synth sounds, colourful lead lines, dub-flecked electronic disco and lashings of cosmic intent, but this one just feels a little more special.

Island Boogie is certainly special. Meecham’s “most personal” full-length to date was inspired by his experiences at the Rotation Garden Party – a beloved micro-festival promoted by a group of friends (including sometime Bizarre Inc and Chicken Lips partner Dean Meredith), renowned for the quality of its custom-built Klipschorn soundsystem. “The album’s title sums up the vibe that you get from Rotation,” he explains. “It may be held in a landlocked venue but it gives a wonderful sense of isolation – it is an audiophile paradise.”

Meecham road-tested rough versions of the album’s eight tracks at Rotation 2023, with the feedback and dancefloor reaction guiding the sound and arrangement of the final mixes. Fittingly, Meecham will return to the event to showcase the album at Rotation 2024 this July. Given the inspiration he’s drawn from previous editions of the festival, that will be a very special occasion.

Musically, Island Boogie offers the most fully functioning and expertly constructed expression of The Emperor Machine sound yet, a style Meecham describes as “electronic cosmic disco-boogie”. It’s a sound that takes cues from early ‘80s NYC punk-funk and dub disco, vintage electro, proto-house and left-of-centre synth-boogie, but one that’s instantly recognisable to those who have followed Meecham’s career over the last three decades.

Island Boogie also sees Meecham continue his blossoming working relationship with Séverine Mouletin, whose stylish and distinctive vocals previously graced his popular ‘Dance Par Amour’ and ‘Your Own Style’ singles. Here Mouletin features on four tracks: the acid-flecked retro-futurist wave-boogie of ‘La Cassette’ (featuring additional percussion by Rupert Brown); the infectious, bleep-sporting headiness of recent single ‘Dévoilez-Vous’; and the squelchy analogue synth-funk of ‘Wanna Pop With You’ and ‘Vas-y-Le Chat’.

Meecham also finds space for a cover of Fox’s 1976 pop-rock classic ‘S-s-s-single Bed’, one of the Stafford-based artist’s all-time favourites. His version, featuring lead vocals by Michelle Bee and guitar from Dave Atherton, re-imagines the track as a subtly Chic-influenced slab of infectious electro-pop rich in kaleidoscopic synth sounds, sing-along choruses and shuffling drums.

The instrumental foundations of the classic Emperor Machine sound come to the fore on the album’s three other cuts. There’s the jazz-funk-flecked warmth of the LP-opening title track; the sparse squelches, bleeps, TB-303 style bass and brightly coloured electronics of ‘Walk The Dog’; and the exotic, slow-motion cosmic electronica of ‘Cha Murrah Etem’, a warm but poignant affair dedicated to his late father. Heady and intoxicating, with hints of Balearica and digital reggae, it offers a fittingly beautiful and tactile conclusion to Meecham’s most expressive and accessible album yet.

Island Boogie

LENG SHOP

Emperor Machine - La Cassette feat. Séverine Mouletin

DS M 001 Andromeda

Buy here

A2. Andromeda (Original 1981 7" mix)

Back in 2018, Argentinian producer Fernando Pulichino released ‘Search of Indigo’ on Leng, a shuffling slab of colourful, Balearic-adjacent dub disco featuring his own distinctive lead vocals and backing vocals from Luca Gasparini. Six years on, the track returns renewed and refreshed thanks to a string of new floor-friendly reworks by LTJ Experience and Pulichino himself.

Fernando kicks off the EP with his ‘AM Mix’, an inspired re-invention that re-frames the song as a hard-wired, acid-fired chugger – all restless, razor-sharp TB-303 lines, low-slung bass guitar and sparkling piano riffs. On the digital version of the EP Pulichino has also offered up his ‘PM Mix’, a deliciously Balearic disco dub rich in colourful synth sounds, elastic bass, flanged guitars and sun-bright piano licks.

It's LTJ Experience’s trio of remixes that lie at the heart of the EP though. The Italian producer, real name Luca Trevisi, initially made his name as a downtempo and nu-jazz producer before perfecting a trademark style of chugging, slow-motion hedonism that draws influence from both deep house and nu-disco. His main Remix foregrounds many of these trademark elements, in the process delivering a bongo-rich chugger laden with delay-heavy bass guitar sounds, head-nodding drums, heady guitar loops and echoing vocal snippets.

On the Dirty Mix, Trevisi reaches for tight, short TB-303 ‘acid’ loops, a more sparse and heavy rhythm track offering a more heads-down, dubbed-out affair that should delight those who love late night and early morning hypnotism with flashes of wide-eyed sonic bliss. Then, to round things off, Trevisi delivers a heady, atmospheric and spaced-out Dub full of jazz guitar licks, bubbling electronics, vocal snippets and effects-laden bass. It’s a winning combination.

Fernando - Search Of Indigo (LTJ Xperience Remix)

JAGA JAZZIST - Oban (Todd Terje remix)

BETWEEN HOURS

Wide Awake

Feel the Vibe (Instrumental)

Miroirs-Liquides

* Read more: https://boltingbits.com/romain-fx-the-drive-lauer-remix-fauve-records
* Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LTQ1AB8DFl4
* Pre-order: https://www.juno.co.uk/products/romain-fx-the-drive-feat-lauer-remix/779571-01/

“When the driver reaches ultimate speed, he realised the world as he knew it was morphing. The array of beams and city lights became waves of spectrum entering the quantum realms. The sizzling frequencies became rhythmic melodies and his body started to get lighter and lighter until he reached 0 gravity. This anamorphic world he entered was called The Drive.”

Entering the remix world for the first time, at Fauve Records, it was important to create a panoply of genres. We thoroughly selected 4 remixers for The Drive [Re-Mix] EP.

On duty first is Lauer (Running Back) from Germany who needs no introduction. To our eyes, his recognisable touch was perfectly fitted for the title track “The Drive”, nostalgia was the approach, long build-ups bringing you into a melancholic trance"  Romain FX.

The Drive [RE-MIX]

PREMIERE: Romain FX - The Drive (Lauer Remix)

Shout Out Louds - Illusions(Prins Thomas Diskomiks)(Merge Records)

Mid-tempo dancefloor specialists... plus everything else.

Emperor Machine - La Cassette feat. Séverine Mouletin

Leng Records

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