After a hugely successful parting shot of 2009 with Mark Henning’s “The Right Time” Hypercolour delve into the new decade with a killer foray into basement house music from Plasmik with their “Retune EP”.

Brothers Roman and Marcel Fritz have developed a formidable reputation from just a select handful of strong, 909-led house EPs for Offenbach’s Connaisseur and remixes for the likes of Tsuba and Crosstown Rebels. Their no-nonsense ‘real’ house ethic has won many a fan, including the Hypercolour team, who first picked the guys for a remix in 2009 and subsequently pestered the duo for a release.

That release is the “Retune EP”, four tracks of robust, deep modern house packaged with a remix from the label’s Alex Jones.

Whether it’s the simplicity of the title track and it’s one chord stab motif, the Pagan-esque skippy drum and flute combination of “Flute”, the warped vox of “Faces” or the dense off-kilter melodies of “Smoothly” each track is imbued with an earthy, analog feel which oozes charm. This feel, in no part hampered by some excellent FM bass tweakery and 909 work, is pure Plasmik.

Alex Jones’ rebuilding of “Faces” doesn’t harm things on this EP, either. His almost myopic, belligerent attitude to the avoidance of trends has resulted in much of his work completely polarising opinions but that is his greatest asset and it shows here. Rough, un-quantized drums sit loosely under shuffling loops while layered snares and a bizarre walking bassline make for a woozy piece of dancefloor tomfoolery which is as wonderful as it is unique.

This is a cracking start to the year from Hypercolour and potentially the last release from Plasmik for some time, so check it out

Minimaland Feedback: Retune me more!

HYPE#017
Release Date: February, 2010

The Berlin based Brothers Roman & Marcel are back with their first release during 2009, launched by Connaisseur, Recordings  as usual. This might be their greatest Ep till date and was already supported by Lee Jones, Gabriel Ananda, Solomun, Shinedoe, Masomenos, Eyerer, Brendom Moeller and Luke Solomon among others. In fact this work contains three great grooves that go around some deep Detroit house and minimal techno. The Ep starts with “Night Bell” with a 4by4 old school rhythm and some neurotic patterns that will make your brain trip during all the way of this one. All the tracks that have “Bell” on their name usually are like this: psychotic, trippy and really acid! Next is “Sneeky Dee” in a far more relaxed rhythm, more inclined to deep house roots but that fast turn into a tech house track. It has a great bassline and the construction on this one is simply amazing, in the beginning there’s only the beat but things start to show up forming an incredible tune. I can see this rising up the moods of night and after-hours crowds. “Red Tension” ends this production in a great way. It is the track with the strongest musical approach, where Plasmik stop to be random producers and transform themselves into something more: musicians. It has a great deep rhythm, with some jazzy instrument in the back like the piano and the sax and a beautiful sound universe stepped up by an amazing percussion, building up a perfect journey. Outstanding release.

a1 - Night Bell

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b1 - Sneeky Dee

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b2 - Red Tension

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CNS#030
Release Date: 24.06.2009