When a producer hits you with a couple of solid EPs in a row it’s enough to send you into research mode to find out more. Christopher Manik has been steadily releasing for the past three years mainly in a digital format, his tracks ranging from experimental breakbeat to house, progressive house and techno. Choosing to keep his scope wide open as far as production styles go has seen the New Yorker turn up in the crates of an equally diverse range of DJs, and a couple of his recent EPs as M A N I K have pricked our ears here at LWE with their raw, bumping house grooves. On the back of his recently released Culprit EP, McLovin’ You, and ahead of EPs slated for release on Four:Twenty and Poker Flat, Chris has very kindly given us “Shaolin” to share. Its summery tones are underpinned by a street-tough, analogue groove that pays homage to the house sound of New York and Chicago, but not so much that it gets weighed down by a muffling crush of sonic cliché. Instead, its thick, rubbery bass line plays as a perfect counterpoint to the far reaching strings, glassy pipes and rapid fire, staccato snares. Classic in style but fresh in execution, it’s a promising taste of M A N I K’s full length release scheduled for release next year.

Download: M A N I K, “Shaolin”

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