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Sunset House

When I stumbled upon this fresh remix of Liam Payne’s Bedroom Floor earlier today, I couldn’t help but start to move to its springy elasticity and vibrant charm. I immediately looked up the producer behind the magic, Leowi, to learn that he’s a young newcomer from Lithuania. He’s given the hit single a fabulous house re-work, full of slick energy and balmy vivacious beats. You can download his remix, here. For a recent fine original from the producer, stream Leowi’s deep house extravaganza, U Wanna Do, below, and dance the night away to his summer lustrous banger.

Mermaid Statue, Grand Cayman My shrine. Its where I go to pray.

Shine Grooves - Night in Tokyo (from Hanagasumi 01, Hanagasumi 2020)

Reviews 202: S&W

Dub Disco has been growing increasingly ambitious with each release and their upward ascent hit a high point last year with the pop psychedelia and euphoric remix collection Dub Disco Presents Aporia + Remixes. And now, the imprint steps beyond their characteristic brown sleeves, playful caricatures, and 12” oriented jams into the wonderful world of the balearic long player. Thomas Schiller and Samuel Krist, otherwise known as S&W, have appeared on Dub Disco before and their track “Cashmere Green” from Dub Disco Presents S&W is among the label’s best. But even considering the high quality of that 12”, the awe-inspiring visions and expansive sonic vistas of duo’s debut album A Weekend Far Out are quite surprising, as S&W craft a sun-dappled soundtrack for a fantasy vacation along the mediterranean, one where crashing waves background immersive balearic adventures through ambient clouds, dreamy African folk spells, hypnotic house and disco rhythms, lush Rhodes chordscapes, island breeze mallet instruments, 90s chill-out glides, and paradise worlds of tropical krautrock and kosmische synthesis, among many other shades and styles. And tying together the whole journey is the magical full color artwork of @victoria-stampfer.

S&W - A Weekend Far Out (Dub Disco, 2019) Crashing waves introduce “Arrival at the Shore” and are soon joined by a Rhodes piano…it’s liquid chord fantasias decaying mesmerically over starlight arpeggiations. As the seaside ambiance slowly fades away, it is replaced by heavenly pads that swirl in from oceanic depths through hypnotic phaser movements and cut-off manipulations, adding a feverish sense of motion to the faded aqua haze. “Ocean View Drive” follows with golden piano leads and balmy synth chords flowing above timbales and breathy cymbal movements while romantic electronic squiggles swim through the sky…this magical introduction eventually washed away by effervescent kick drums, static smothered snares, and rimshots that echo over bubbling krautrock basslines. Buzzing synths weave LSD dreamscapes and sometimes the melodic elements back away, leaving clacking rimshots and hypnotic motorik beats to chug beneath grooved out bassline magic. It’s like slow motion cruising down the autobahn on a serene sunny day, only as if transported to a fantastic seaside world where euphoric synth sequences float on rays tropical sunlight, bringing vibes of Hatchback and the rest of the Pacifica scene along the way.

“Cloud Palace” will surely be one of the balearic anthems of the year, starting as it does with aquatic marimba patterns looping the mind into a solar trance state while luscious synthwaves build underneath. And as the idiophones dance over thumb piano tapestries, flamboyant gated tom fills introduce a slamming seaside breakbeat that soars beneath deep house pads. Wooden mallet tones dance on spiritual sparkles and everything grows into a vibed out jam, one that’s supremely spaced out and sees crystalline piano chords floating on immersive sub-bass waves. The reverb soaked breaks glide eternally through paradise realms while static patterns surf in the background ether, evoking the heyday of 90s chill out and José Padilla’s Cafe del Mar compilations A mesmeric mallet instruments weave wooden dreamwebs. Cosmic synth descents bring airs of smooth jazz and touches of Afro-folk and at some point, everything vaporizes into gas, leaving the listener to float through the titular cloud palace before dropping once more into a vibed out jam seeing thick and subaqueous bass synths pulsate alongside climactic piano chords...the whole thing evoking some beachside dancefloor in a world of dreams, where everyone raises hands in the air as they surrender to S&W’s mystical ocean magic.

In the Crocodile Funk featuring “Mondello,” machine disco rhythms, spectrally morphed hand drums, and rattling snares are danced over by kaleidoscopic balafon melodies…the wooden planks and gourds vibrating ecstatically as they cast sunshine spells. Double-time hi-hats rush through the air while tropically flanged guitars play off the Malian folk incantations…like vibes of Tortoise intermingling with fiery Afro-disco. Sliding bass fluids move all around and give the disco glide a glowing dub pulse while echoing string and chime melodies dance on sunbeams. Then a radiant lead enters and is backed by morphing reso-squelches...as if smeared out alien steel drums are skipping on seashells while all around, white sand crystals gleam in the sun and wiggling mirage electronics and equatorial fevers fade in and out of clear blue waters. The wonderfully titled “New Age Fantasy” follows and features percussive synth bubbles, future-island hand drums swaying on squelching bass currents, and hypnotic panning beats. The effect is like being momentarily transported to a lazy summer vacation in the south Pacific, with percolating chime melodies like cool sea-spray against warm skin. It all strongly evokes the tropical exotica of Haruomi Hosono, especially as liquid star shine melodies flutter towards the clouds, marimbas float through psychedelic echo bubbles, and resonant fusion leads and wah-wah synths paint dream vibrations in the salty air.

The epic “Monte Pellegrino” features Gustaaf and unfurls across two parts, with the first setting emotional disco beats to glide on cosmic clouds while harmonious pads wash in with etheric wave flows. Twanging slap bass loops fire off alongside tight synthbass percolations and bongos ride through a balearic dreamscape adorned by strange sliding tones that simulate whale songs and dolphin lullabies. Mallet instruments are submerged in cosmic-aquatic fx as they dance through the sky before dropping away and allowing the track to vibe out for an extended passage of lush synthesized chordscapes and tropical disco rhythms. As the sea-blue idiophones return, they grow in strength while the rhythms recede, giving space to pad meditations, chirping insects, and the ceremonial sounds of the sea. The second part of “Monte Pellegrino” emerges from these oceanic nature spells with bass synths walking along the shore and trancey orchestrations building atop chill-out atmospherics. Bongos join pulsating string synths as the schmaltzy fusion slap-bass returns…the whole mix floating in a beatless ambient wonderland where everything seems to radiate gold and aquamarine. When the disco beat finally returns alongside polyrhythmic mallet dreamwebs, we find ourselves gliding towards a sunset horizon as everything zones out for toes in the sand and cocktail in hand bliss…like sitting on some hidden beach of impossible beauty while birds of every color fly tree to sea and rainbow fish shimmer below the water’s surface

New age keyboard chimes and a hovering sense of seaside warmth pervade “Garden of Cosmic Speculation” and a vibed out beat is led by heady cymbals…the whole thing reveling in that kind of slow motion balearic house by way of fantasy disco that you find in Maricopa’s recent work. Gorgeous staccato synth riffs blast the mind with currents of aquatic power that are physically enveloping and swell the heart and minimal chord ascents carry a nostalgic sense of euphoria as we transition towards playful pastures where jacking bass synths dance and descend across glowing cosmic pools while looping synth chords move through the sky and pan-pipe electronics skip on the surface of an interstellar ocean. When we return to the sensual disco paradise, soul-lifting FM synth fluids solo and vibrate…their leads bringing polychromatic visions and joyous laughter until the mix momentarily spaces out into fractal streaks of starlight, zany delay oscillations, and emotional chord flows under soft filter movements. And as we journey once more to the playful realm of cosmic dance magic, huge columns of reverb drift into the sky while balafons join the spiritual sea sway.

There are further slow-motion disco romantics and heady hi-hat patterns on display in “After the Tempest,” with the mix featuring seabirds flying high in the sky…their evocative calls morphed into silvery light and moving through gaseous bodies of synthesizer mist. Chugging basslines thump the chest as Rhodes pianos drop gemstone percolations that shimmer throughout the mix. Tambourines jangle while tubular square wave leads enter…their meditative movements backed by narcotic fog banks of mermaid euphoria…and sizzling synth winds blow all around, eventually leading to an ambient passage where heart-wrenching chords movements and fluttering echoes preclude a climactic sound rush that brings back the soaring beats. As they return, the disco drums seem to hit harder than before...the whole song evolving into hammock house perfection ringing out from eternal island cliffs and rained down upon by kosmische sequences and LSD filter tweaks. The vacation ends with “Homecoming” and its alien contrabass tones emanating from underwater caverns. Bubbling sea synths communicate with coral and fish and the inky black ambiance is eventually brought into the light by beautiful pianos that wrap the soul in their watery chord flows. Chiming sequences swim through the depths as rays of sunlight break through the surface and refract off of a seabed of rubies, emeralds, and sapphires and all the while, pizzicato melodies beamed in from another dimension stoke wistful memories of a time in paradise and crashing waves sounds return to cleanse the mind.

(images from my personal copy)

I don’t think it’s necessary relay how great a song might be if it involved both distinguished Dutch producer R3HAB and illustrious Vancouver producer Felix Cartal, do I? You know to expect something extra magnificent when you see both those names on a track. Earlier tonight, we shared a song named Borrowed Time. Now, we launch into Killing Time, a larger than large, bigger than life kind of tropical house meets future beats behemoth. Killing Time is a misty mellifluous, panoramic sprawling spectacular, and contrary to its name, sinking into its glowing grasp and sprightly beats is well worth your time. Killing time, we’re not. Making the best use of our time, we are.