[Unterton]

After its first two 12″s, you may have expected a lot of things from Unterton, Ostgut’s new sub-label. But you’d have to be positively seer-like to have predicted an act like Manhooker turning up for record number three. From what little I can find on the duo, they’re Polish-born but based in Berlin. One guy sings and the other guy produces. The results are interesting: think something along the lines of the Pet Shop Boys doing house. It’s all very shiny and euphoric; an about face when compared with the jagged, aggressive lines of the Tuff City Kids’ preceding EP, Bobby Tacker. Then again, Berghain did start its life as a gay club, and despite its ongoing reputation as a temple for brutal techno, the music of stereotypical gay icons like Kylie Minogue and the Pet Shop Boys can still be heard there, both in the housier Panorama Bar and Berghain proper.

“Wheels In Motion” could uplift either room. Its surging waves of piano and breathy, reverbed vocals are the kind of gaudy elements that rarely fail to excite dance floors. And that’s without mentioning the golden-hued synths and organs that skirt about the track’s periphery, infusing everything with a happy glow. That’s not to imply that several tried-and-tested things have simply been thrown together. Sebastian Magassouba’s vocals are strong and natural, and move in neat unison with the music, which itself is quite dynamic. In other words, the duo know how to write a proper song. With the help of a sharpened bongo line and extra bass, Rotciv’s remix is just slightly more energetic, but doesn’t change things overly much. On the flip is the more contemporary and subdued “Club Anonymous.” Here a dulcet organ does most of the melodic work, with the lyrics constituting a sugary coating rather than a soaring centerpiece. These vocals prove easier clay for Rotciv’s second remix, which changes things much more drastically than the first. Underpinned by classic Roland percs and nimble bass, its carefree, 90s-inspired sound seems likely to garner more club plays than any other of the tracks on the Wheels In Motion EP, even if they’re all worth a spin.