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12"
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NEK 013EP
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"Don't It Make You (edit 1)" is a relentless house rhythm bolstered with congas, massed claps, synth-bass raspberries, and a badass male singer, over which a miasma of enigmatic tones bubbles and swirls. On "edit 2," McMillion strips things down to dancefloor essentials and erases some of the free-floating background weirdness. Fred P emphasizes the track's mysterious drones and loops a female vocalist while dropping in some echoed male chatter to gently disorient. Orson Wells layers and pitches up the original's cascades of bleeps, which become the dominant motif, and subtly modulates said bleeps while keeping that irrepressible rhythm strutting.
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12"
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NEK 012EP
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Spectral Empire prove once again that they're some of the deepest producers working today. The UK duo -- George Thompson (aka Black Merlin) and Kyle Martin (half of Land Of Light) -- make their Nuearth Kitchen debut with two tracks of stunning depth and range. A stellar example of spy-thriller disco, "Goloko Dhama" induces an exhilarating paranoia not unlike that created in Can's epic "Mother Sky." "Sadhu" seems like it could be emanating from a Nepalese mountaintop after a morning ceremony. It begins with exotic tintinnabulation, distant bass ripples, and celestial temple drones and then gradually accrues a steely-eyed, tribal-disco propulsion, accented by sputtering 808s.
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12"
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NEK 011I-EP
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French brothers Baptiste & Pierre Colleu have been making music together since they were children. They spent a chunk of their childhood in Africa, which they say has inspired their work in the studio. That influence is submerged fairly deep on "Dolphin Kid." There's an undercurrent of eerie soulfulness and woody percussion accents running through this oddly alluring cosmic-house seducer, but its roots are more Balearic than Afrobeat. The five remixes of "Dolphin Kid" from Coyote, Willie Burns, and Jon McMillion enhance the Colleu brothers' original in incrementally fascinating ways.
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12"
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NEK 011II-EP
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French brothers Baptiste & Pierre Colleu their second Dolphin Kid EP with two masterly remixes by Black Merlin. His "Romance in the Dark Mix" turns "Dolphin Kid" into a chilling, Goblin-esque piece of dungeon ambience. But it's Merlin's nearly 13-minute "Peyote Mix" that really reels in the cinematic magic, as he launches the cut even deeper into the black, adding thrusting, throbbing disco kicks and enough horror/thriller-film soundtrack signifiers to give John Carpenter a perma-grimace. Poor "Dolphin Kid" has come to a gory, but very exciting end.
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2x12"
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NEK 008EP
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This four-track single from Jon McMillion's new pseudonym VisionWorks II solidifies this idiosyncratic veteran's position as a producer of international stature. "Time Out (Fire Complex)" is a tech-house cut that tilts the dancefloor at strange angles. Hollowed-out woodblock hits and motivational 4-on-the-floor beats accentuate a low-slung 5 AM anthem that's as psychedelic as your next ketamine trip. The title-track features McMillion's pitched-down muttering, creating a foundation of low-level anxiety under distorted bass and kicks and a paranoia-inducing synth motif that could've laced a '70s giallo film. "Neon" thrusts you into a nocturnal milieu of alluring female vocals, shimmying 4/4 rhythms, hissing cymbals, and warbling synths. "Painting Computer Pie" features subtle granular synthesis and insistent disco kick drums.
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12"
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NEK 010EP
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Not much is known about Lithuania's Corbie besides that he's classically-trained, composes music for children's theater productions, and avoids plug-ins and samples. He solicited Nuearth Kitchen with demos and impressed them enough to merit a 12" single containing two tracks remixed from his unreleased e.motion.s album by two of the world's most slyly subversive house producers: DJ Sprinkles (Terre Thaemlitz) and Juju & Jordash. The original "Arktika" is a fantasia of lush, romantic synth washes and suavely understated beats that could've come off Roxy Music's Avalon. "Sprinkles' Deeperama" reconfigures it into an even more libidinous and elegant tribal-house excursion. Juju & Jordash supersize the beats on "Movement" and then introduce an ominous, tensile bass line and imminent-doom synth atmospheres. The Amsterdam-based duo have ushered Corbie's winsome composition to the dark side, where it breathes with an entirely new vigor.
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2x12"
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NEK 004EP
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After having debuted on Nuearth Kitchen with his critically-acclaimed Jon McMillion LP, Jon McMillion now returns to the label on a provocative six-track sound cloud. For those who know McMillion's musical prowess, they won't be surprised to find late-night musings lathered in left-field sensibilities, comedic soundscapes with dancefloor leanings, exquisite sound design, and an ongoing exchange of darkness unto light. McMillion is an aural frontiersman with a passion for free-form composition, complicated sonic layering, and a particular nostalgia for retro ephemera. On the Flier EP, McMillion returns to these elements, perpetually rendering what dance music is and could be.
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12"
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NEK 009EP
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Dave Aju's Look Out Above with The Invisible Art Trio continues his practice of aural alchemy, reconciling genres and eras in distinct, versatile elixirs of house. The subtle, smooth elements of the title-track blend effortlessly into a dense, lush sonic cocktail. "Good Gawd" is decidedly upbeat, with a straightforward and propulsive groove, a bass line that smolders beneath riffs that shimmer, punctuated with funky hoots and hooks that cinch it all together. On "Fall," lilting voices, grimy grind, and space-age arpeggios come together in surprisingly smooth way.
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12"
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NEK 007EP
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Repressed. On the Strumpetrocracy EP, Madteo constructs a distinctive sound-world that throws a very strange light on dance music. "Laissez-Faire Couture" instantly transports you to bizarre realms with midtempo funky beats haloed in swirling, celestial synth drones and angelic female swoons contrasting with strident Roland 303 twangs and unsettling, growling bass frequencies. "We Doubt (You Can Make It)" threads a male vocalist over a broken tech-house rhythm. DJ Sotofett's "Radio Mix" of "We Doubt" adds an urgent blaxploitation-flick bass line and Dresvn offers a chilled dub version.
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12"
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NEK 006EP
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V's take on house music comes at the listener from an outsider's perspective, as his native Ukraine traditionally hasn't been a hotbed of this genre. Consequently, 13th District hits your ears at an odd angle, as V (aka Vakula aka Mikhaylo Vityk) bends somewhat familiar tropes into fascinating, fresh shapes. Clearly enamored of American funk, soul, and jazz, V recalibrates these familiar elements -- the amino acids of house -- into dream-logic.
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