Former Output Records labelmate, Get Physical cohort and all round badboy Lopazz aka Stefan Eichinger and Italic records chap Eddie Zarook get back together after a slew of remixes to drop this sample ridden double A-side. And if you’ve not heard their wonky remix of Gus Gus’ “Add This Song,” I advise you do so — it jacks like a iron fist in a padded glove against a brick, sweat covered wall. They do it again here, and the producers’ respective styles complement each other perfectly with Lopazz’s somewhat warm in tone, house-fused vocal stylings together with Mr Zarook’s stripped back, near minimal techno leanings.
What this EP really belies is two guys having a lot of fun in the studio. This can be gleaned not only from the ridiculous names of the tracks, but also their inherent playfulness. “Samphop,” for example, is a tom heavy piece of house which starts sounding as if it were taken straight from the vaults of Justin Harris’ old Freaks anthology. But just when you think you have it licked, the track builds via a driving hum that shatters into an mixture of Chi-Town piano stabs, unintelligible vocal samples and the odd harmonic lift. Just the type of thing which, without a doubt, will turn crowds into a sweaty jacking throng in no time at all. On the flip, “HollToll” manages to squeeze several of the sounds of the past few months (whistles, south American percussion, flutes, Detroit-esque Romanthony sounding vocals and odd syncopation) and makes it sound like less of a cacophony and more like some latter-day remix of St Germain. In a good way. If eschewing seriousness and pretension ends up with a touch a jazz, I don’t think anyone will be complaining. Too busy dancing to mind.
