As yawn-inducing as the notion of “horn house” may sound at this point, one recent release on Musique Risquée puts brass to use in a way that’s rather novel. Under the moniker Others, Bruno Pronsato and Daze Maxim blur the line between organic and electronic sounds even more than usual, layering horns over trippy post-house vibes in a 23-minute jam session. Simply called “Take 1/Take 2,” this long and exotic ordeal sounds more like a “piece” than a track, and shows these two talented producers at the top of their game.
“Take / Take 2” derives its character from a careful balance of innovation and convention. As a trained jazz musician, Daze conjures atonal drones on sax and trumpet that give the piece a lofty, avant-garde flavor, while Bruno lays down some upbeat and funky drums. The standard house rhythm makes for easy mixing, and heavy bass kicks give this one more dance floor potential than many of Bruno’s solo tracks. About ten minutes in, the piece is halved by lengthy and dissonant breakdown, making it both stranger and more clubbable (unfortunately, due to the song’s length, this breakdown serves as the flip-over point on the vinyl release). The production value is just as exceptional as one should expect from these two, with incredibly vivid textures and an eccentric vibe complimenting the thumping groove. Upon its release in November, “Take 1/Take 2” slipped under the radar relatively unnoticed, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t one of 2008’s better releases.
loving it.
want!
wow, thanks for digging this out.
what a fantastic piece of music
another day, another record bought b/c of lwe. Thanx!
Now THAT’S exactly what we like to hear!
Man, this is quality stuff right here. Very Villalobosian, or Chet Baker gone house.
Great, great, great! Thanks for the tip…definitely getting this once my vinyl-buying hiatus is over. This will go great next to the “Recomposed” remixes!
found this 12″ in a used bin at a rock record store of all places. nice dynamic tracks that are funky to boot.
i’m kinda torn on bruno pronsato. his performances as half hawaii were really sloppy, but their 12″ on perlon is some of the darkest, gangster minimal out there. frustrating! i hope their forthcoming record is a winner, because i really do have faith in their ideas, just the execution is lacking at times.
Definitely recommend checking out Bruno’s other releases… “Why Can’t We Be Like Us?” and “Nobody Calls” are nothing to be torn about… pure class.
Also, i saw half hawaii at Mutek and thought they were very tight. still haven’t heard that 12″, would really like to…
i’m kinda torn on bruno pronsato. his performances as half hawaii were really sloppy, but their 12″ on perlon is some of the darkest, gangster minimal out there.
i was thinking the other day about producers who always stand out in my mind, and one that has and will always pique my attention, and has done so since i first brought him out to detroit in 2003 and continues to do so more and more each day, si bruno pronsato. in fact, his album on hello:/repeat is one of my favourites from last year.
if you really dissect some of his production, really take note of how intricate sounds are constructed and how much he really pays attention to the minutia, you really appreciate just what he does. he’s kind of brilliant, if you ask me. he might be a goofball and a smartass (at least from my experiences – bless his heart!), but he never ceases to amaze me.
its unfortunate that your experience with half-hawaii wasn’t great, but the four times i’ve caught bruno and sammy together i’ve been blown clear out of the water. their most recent performance at bunker was one of my highlights from last year – possibly one of the better live sets i’ve heard in quite a while (john roberts’ live pa a few weeks ago takes the cake).
yeah, totally agree with Eric… his album was my #1 from 2008.
still one of the best bruno productions ever is all night blahblah, especially the jackmate remix.
other notables…
where’d you learn to kiss that way?
ariana + i
e as in ella / open your eyes
god love me some steven ford!
Jesus, this is great. The little bass swells really make it for me.
i have a personal bias for his Capelli’s Glue Remix of My Little Pony
bruno pronsato will be here in chicago at sonotheque next friday the 30th with kate simko! looking forward to that!
i lived in seattle the same time he did & saw him play a few times out there as bruno pronsato; he really is great live & his attention to detail+dancefloor is a knee-liquifying combo
eric,
first, lemme state that i completely agree with you on bruno and half hawaii’s sound design. on a number of levels, i really do appreciate it’s uniqueness and attention to detail. imitations often lack that hedonistic/sexy drive that i think bruno coaxes out of his productions more successfully than most. i find melchior productions ltd. tracks are sexier, frank bretschneider tracks have a more precise sound design (more of that elastic hip hop feel – the empty space, as it were), and villalobos arranges percussion more interestingly, but i believe in time bruno can definitely give them a run for their money. there is something special to his tracks like at home i’m a tourist that makes you feel good.
before seeing half hawaii live, they were one of my favorite producers.
it’s funny you mention their latest gig at bunker because that’s the performance that really turned me off from them/him. i caught them in the summer too; a better performance in my opinion, but i left feeling they need to work on creating the dynamic quality of their published tracks. if i were to describe live half hawaii to a friend, i would have to qualify my above praises with their repeated insistence on killing the kick drum, then bombing it over and over again. it seems that’s their live PA trope, which to me is really disappointing. the abstract, headspace techno of into you/out of you was rendered into mindless party music that strives for the dry and funky, but squanders all the good stuff in pursuit of “fun” or “goofing off” or what have you. the last bit is just my perception of their music, and i know it’s harsh and probably unfair, but that’s just my take on them live. i really think they could be the shit; they just need to exercise some restraint and not be afraid to let their sets breathe. i don’t claim to know their mission statement or anything, but if you know, i would be really interested to know what they go for.
not to add insult to injury, but i feel it really needs to be said: for their second show at bunker last year, their machines were obviously out of sync at times and the sound was horribly mastered: all the nuances and subtleties in their productions that you laud, and me too for that matter, were extinguished by their insistence on jacking the low end. there is no mid-range to their live setup – the sexed out voices, the sweeping synths, obliterated. all that’s left is four to the floor kicks and sammy dee’s percussion programming. the whole definitely did not exceed the sum of its parts.
meh, maybe i’m focusing too much on what i wanted to hear rather than what they are… maybe they just work a lot differently live than they do in the studio.
“as it were”?
as it were = so to speak
amazing record. this was in my dec charts. for me, the best bruno production is actually the osvaldo “no more vampires” ep on underline. still a totally strange goth-no record that no one else has quite matched.
thats funny!
[…] Del Shannon, “Gemini” (Pilooski Edit) [Discograph] 02. Others, “Take 1/Take 2″ [Musique Risquee] 03. Flying Lotus, “Robertaflack” (Martyn’s Heart Beat Mix) […]