24th January 12
PREMIERE: Photonz – Spectre [Don't Be Afraid]
House music enveloped a lot of people last year. Some fanboy dudes went from twitter timelines full of ‘the London scene is so important’ and ‘Terror Danjah is a G’ to ‘Levon is the greatest’ in a matter of months as they discovered some of the key players whose music has captivated a score of DJs and producers, who had in turn, sold it onto their listeners. It expanded formative palettes to different textures, as the consensus momentum veered away from that funky style skip and deeper into that four four pulse. It also helped to explode the rather constrictive notion of ‘UK Bass’, something I’m pretty grateful for in all honesty – selling bass music as a culture (a thing Joe Muggs touched on pretty pertinently with his review of Outlook festival last year) is never something that’s never really sat right with me: a bespectacled, middle class, twenty something.
I’m not the first person to hold my hands up and say that I was never really swung by house music until a group of producers and DJs I find brilliantly interesting started delving that way themselves – it’s natural to be influenced by people you look up to and respect – and I probably won’t be the last; which is why a label like Don’t Be Afraid could soon become so very influential. The label name itself is an undoubted play on words concerning the stigma attached to some strains of house music, but the music they’ve released to date makes no bones about its direction.
The work spread across the six preceeding 12”s from label boss Semtek and Mr Beatnick has laid the groundwork for a release like the label’s latest; a chime led romp into 4×4 kick drums and zig zagged strings by the Portuguese duo Photonz. ‘Spectre’ is pure and unabashed house. Subversively progressive, it feels like it’s besotted with making the most out of its own tempo and sure as hell, it swivels through its melodic transitions with panache.
Catch the full Love Spectre EP from Photonz on 13th February when it’s released on vinyl through Don’t Be Afraid.
