Singles Reviewed: Samim - The Lick, King Unique - Hinode, Subb-an - Corridors EP and Itmar Sagi - Black Gold

Samim - The Lick
Samim divided opinion last year with his summer gypsy house hit heater with unexpected plays from claude von stroke right through to jo wiley. Some loved its quirky fun sampling which caused them to do hybrid folk/square/gypsy dances. Others hated the track also for the quirky accordion sample which made people do silly hybrid folk/square/gypsy dances. Either way it brought Samim to everyone’s attention. His follow up or more so the next track he’s releasing is also another quirky one. It takes on a wobbly breakbeat with some Justin Timberlake style lyrics. In fact this track could pass for some kind of Justin Timberlake/Missy Elliot collaboration. As it shifts from its starting breakbeat rhythm to a house friendly 4/4, elements of bollywood percussion and strings filter through. It’s a strange combination, but it seems to work. I can’t imagine the Berlin elite playing this, but I can see the likes of Mehdi et al dropping its quirky rhythms.

If quirky hip house vocals aint you’re thing, then Derrick Carter is here to save the day. He pumps the track up full of chi-town boompty, placing itself somewhere between the Chicago jacking and the fidget sound that Switch pounds out. Derrick cuts and chops the samples up and rearranges them in a haphazard order which creates a bum shaking groove. For those that don’t like the full on hip house vocals, there is a dub which dials down on the words. So everyone can be pleased. Well apart from the deep house and minimal fans. But the Carter mix is full of so much energy you can’t help but love it. 7.5/10

Buy The Lick from Beatport

King unique – Hinode

This is the first I’ve heard from King Unique since their days on the old Junior label. These days the
boys have been putting their tracks out on their own label Curfew with Hinode being the 8^th release.
Hinode is a mix of epic synth sweeps combined with your typical crunchy electro minimal sound. The only description that comes to mind about this track is a poor mans Holden remix of The Sky Was Pink. It is nearly identical in its elements, yet King Unique fail to execute correctly. The beat structure just seems run of the mill, whilst the sweeping synths build to a quite corny faithless trance high. Fergie has a fair attempt at salvaging the package with his techno roller which has plenty of groove and fidget to make any dancefloor move. However this track lacks identity with its typical fidgety minimal techno shuffle. It will rock the floors but will most likely be swept away in the wash of all the other “minimal” tracks out there. 5/10

Subb-an – corridors ep

You’d have thought Subb-an and his Corridors EP would be hailing from on the pulse Berlin, but in fact the young whippersnapper is hailing all the way from Birmingham of all places. How is this possible you might ask? Birmingham is full of trendy mullets, a penchant for the funkiest of funky house and was once the epicentre of all things hard house. Well for the best part you’d be right, but away from the vomit lined gutters of Broad Street lies a party known as Below. Its here where the young Subb-an has been cutting his teeth at Birmingham’s answer to Circo Loco at DC-10.

Corridors is made up of four tracks poking in at the house genre from all sides. Moscow Fighting is a winding moody house track laced with random stabs of a piercing piano. The track slowly progresses with the winding siren synths becoming more and more intense, coupled with the piercing piano through the breaks of the synth makes this track a haunting deep house monster.

Quadroon follows a similar formula to Moscow fighting but flips it round using bright warm synths which shift and phase in over the course of the track leading up to a singular crescendo at the back end. I can really imagine this track slotting nicely into the Below warm up regime during their infamous Birmingham day time BBQs.

The EP is finished off with Poloma another deep house affair which takes a moody approach with its dubby bassline. Unfortunately I find this track quite forgettable out of the lot, yet I can imagine the bassline could really pulsate through a crowd on a larger sound system. It is this bassline that the Ralph Swilinski mix has picked up on, beefing it up and making it angry. The growling bassline dances around a shifting pattern of percussion samples keeping the track simple but strangely infectious with its groove. A great slice of dub tech house if such a genre exists, making this track the standout on the EP. 7/10

Itmar Sagi – Black Gold

Itmar Sagi drops a ballsy Detroit-esque techno track which bubbles synths over a growling bassline. Funk D’Void used this track to kick of his Sci Fi Hi Fi 4 mix and quite rightly so. The track starts ballsy but slowly elevates through a wispy cloudy foreground created by the string synths.

Sammuel L Sessions transforms the track into a techno roller, looping the strings to hypnotise the listener. The loops work creating a dark Fabric room 2 sound which ticks over nicely, but doesn’t provide enough progression to keep it interesting. On the other hand Chymera’s mix is quirky and off beat. Drip feeding you samples of the strings over a dub style break beat before spitting you out the other end in a wash of breathy sweeps.

All three tracks are different with their own take on techno but all three sound fresh; definitely worth a purchase to bring a breath of fresh air to your sets. 8/10