Celebrating 10 years of refining its highly personal vision of underground electronic dance music, Paris’ Circus Company presents Snuggle & Slap, a two-CD compilation balancing contemporary house music with more idiosyncratic submissions. It’s more than just a label sampler: many of the artists included here appear two or even three times, having been afforded the opportunity to think beyond the dance floor and experiment with new sounds, unusual styles, and secret passions.
Hushed funk, feathery beats and spongy textures characterize Snuggle, while Slap snaps to attention with more insistent grooves straight to the heart of the label’s sweet spot: sumptuously detailed, swoon worthily deep house. Whether you’ve been following Circus Company for the whole decade or are only just now turning on, this collection of new, exclusive material is an essential portrait of one of the most dynamic labels around.
Who’s on board? There are veterans from the label’s very earliest days, including Ark, Nôze, Dave Aju and Sety. There are folks that have joined in recent years, enlarging the label’s sound along with its roster: dOP, MyMy, Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts, Audio Werner, Antislash, Oleg Poliakov, Le K. And finally there are the most recent freaks to join the Circus: Berlin resident Ryan Crosson, New York’s Wolf Lamb-affiliated Nicolas Jaar, and the German jazz/soul band Homewreckers.
Circus Company’s Mathias Duchemin (aka Sety) sums up the project: “The concept of this compilation with to present our artists’ hidden sides. On the Slap side you’ll get their usual, dancefloor-oriented style. On the Snuggle side you’ll have the chance to discover their more ‘home listening’ directions. Nowadays, I have the feeling that labels are neglecting the non dance side.”
The best thing about Snuggle & Slap is the way the tracks fall into conversation with one another. Like pictures at an exhibition, each reflects upon the next, with complementary sounds and recurring themes coming together into a whole that’s far more than the sum of its parts.
TRACKLISTING CD 1 – Snuggle Part
1. Ark – Back to sleep Back
2. dOP feat. Dave Aju – Alligators
3. MyMy – Bonus Jack
4. Nôze – Drums
5. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts – Odyssee
6. Dave Aju – Hide and Go Seek
7. Ryan Crosson – Slow Down
8. Homewreckers – Chicago Urban Blues
(Live at Café Bohemia)
9. dOP – Turff Blues
10. Nicolas Jaar – Waltz Jazz
11. Antislash – Trafic Jam
12. Ezechiel Pailhes – As We Are
TRACKLISTING CD 2 – Slap Part
1. Nôze – Boredom
2. Ark – Hey Glizz
3. Nicolas Jaar – Love Teacher
4. dOP – Stock Option
5. Destination Danger – Du Rififi au Katanga
6. Sety – Le Bourdon
7. Audio Werner – Bakshi
8. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumont – Peneloppe
9. Le K – Rahan
10. Oleg Poliakov – Keep Blooming
Release Date: 24.10.2009
Minimaland Feedback: During 10 years Circus Company has been one of the major labels of Paris. They’ve introduced several important artists from that city like Noze, Ark, Cabanne, dOP and many more. Circus Company isn’t about a scene, or even a sound. It’s about a kind of spirit, and those who feel it, get it. And this release is all about that spirit, for this they’ve integrated another producers that are very familiar to them like My My, Guilaume & The Coutu Dumonts, Daje Ave or Audio Werner and the result couldn’t be better: two funky cd’s full of ideas and personality and good producers. I can almost say that this is too much good music in only one package. Don’t count on pumpy techno, this is some of the most exquisite minimal out there, in an old school label that deserves lots of respect! Modern dance music is alive!
