[Aus Music]

“Professional” but uninspiring house music is not exactly thin on the ground at the moment, and on the Stash EP Bicep set out four jams which, while effective on the surface, leave me rather cold. As their moniker suggests, Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar sit firmly on the chunky bumper-end of the house spectrum, and the tracks that make up Stash, while bristling with sheen, suffer from a certain lack of imagination.

“Stash” leads on a walking, elasticized bass line that calls to mind the sounds of Crosstown Rebels or Hot Creations — mildly paranoid, 80’s Miami pool party vibes hovering above ticking percussion which approximates and also over-complicates the Omar-S template. No doubt this will curry favor on a rambunctious dance floor, but the lead sounds rather thin against the booming kicks — a “preset” affair lacking fire. “Courtside Drama” (the EP is themed after “The Wire”) is a bouncy and melancholic track that skits along nicely, again using distinctly 80s synth leads, and is the strongest piece on the EP. Its percussive elements are well tuned and the rounded sub keeps it all moving, while “Rise” makes use of P Funk-esque squalls alongside hard, jacking beats. Again, this suffers from a certain lack of identity. The pads arriving at around five minutes add a cheesy, trancey air to proceedings; imagine Jus-Ed remixed by Paul Van Dyke and you’re not far off. “The Game” closes with a relatively sedate melancholic vibe, sampling sirens and dialogue alongside insistent, shuffling hats.

Although Bicep have gone for a palette of sounds clearly marked “gritty, underground U.S. house,” it seems to have been re-imagined with a drunken Croatian boat party in mind — the murk, the seediness, and above all the mystery, are absent. Much of the best current U.S. house sounds so incredibly odd — and effective — because the producers making it are drawing on a wide range of influence that by no means stops at house music. Listen to Kyle Hall, DJ Qu, Joey Anderson, Amir Alexander, et al., and you hear a whole trove of musical past. Stash, meanwhile, sounds like Bicep listened intently to “raw” house music and attempted the style themselves, with audibly watered-down results. While these tracks are not repellent, the sheer transparency of their influences attempts to place them in context with the best of what is happening across the pond. Let’s see what happens when they cast the net a bit wider.