[Mountain People]

In the span of seven releases, André Schmid and contributors Serafin and Roman Bruderer have charted a wide-ranging course for the Zurich-based Mountain People label. But whether the records paid homage to seminal house tunes (“Mountain001”) or helped spark the return of tribalized minimal house (“Mountain005”), their impeccable construction was conspicuously identifiable as a Mountain People production. Schmid (better known as Rozzo or Peter Dildo) imparts a certain snappiness, a sexy gait such that even the label’s lowest points (the threadbare “Mountain006″) are far more palatable than the majority of house singles I receive. While the eighth Mountain People 12” is equally surefooted, the record’s droning arrangements are more aligned with those of Schmid’s other guises than its predecessors. The results are less compelling than one might imagine.

The last few years have found Schmid draping loose and flowing pads around intricate percussion patterns on tracks like “Muramasa” and “Azzurro” as Rozzo and “Womanizer” as Peter Dildo. It’s a good formula for showcasing his adroit drum programming and knack for choosing demure tone palettes. Yet when applied to “Mountain008,” his taut but unflashy percussion loses some of its immediacy, feeling stuck in stasis. Cloaked in billowing organ chords and accented with shakers and cracks of thunder, “008.1” feels surprisingly pensive rather than moving. “008.2” is likewise swathed in sustained pads, leaving the syncopations of a gulping bass line to pull the humid track across eight minutes. Even a vintage sample announcing the death of “Jack, one of the true pioneer of house music,” does little to break the dour inertia. What’s worse, vinyl buyers aren’t privy to the far more persuasive “008.3,” a digital exclusive. DJs will have to pack Serato equipment to air the oily, 303 bass-led track whose churning undercurrents evoke the sonic details of Shackleton. Even if “Mountain008” finds its way into warm up and cool down DJ sets, Schmid’s experiment with cross-bred methods has yielded one of the least distinctive Mountain People records to date.