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Takovoi

Perfect Match

Back in 2019, Leng Records offered a debut to a previously unheralded producer, Takovoi. Three years on, the Russian nu-disco specialist returns to the label with a five-track EP that displays the depth and quality of his rapidly evolving trademark sound.

The Perfect Match EP delivers a range of grooves and stylistic approaches while showcasing the producer’s love of dreamy Balearic chords, soft-touch synth sounds and colourful melodies.

He sets the tone with the EP-opening title track, ‘Perfect Match’ where sustained, sun-down chords, yearning lead lines, cascading piano motifs and twinkling electronics ride a shuffling, post-electro beat and a warm, undulating bassline. ‘Homesickness’ sees Takovoi wrap waves of rising and falling synth sounds and melancholic melodies around a deep, hypnotic nu-disco groove, while the slow-motion sensation that is ‘Dreams’ brings throbbing analogue bass, sustained piano chords, sparkling electronics and the gentlest of beats.

Takovoi’s dancefloor credentials come to the fore with ‘Bubbles’, a slowly building Balearic nu-disco gem that layers up echo-laden percussion hits, eyes-closed melodies, and drowsy synth sounds over a bustling beat that sits somewhere between deep house and TR-808-driven broken beat.

This off-kilter approach to beat programming continues on the EP’s inspired closing cut, ‘Another The Same’, where hazy female vocal samples, immersive chords and reverb-heavy musical motifs gingerly dance on a bouncy and densely layered 4/4 beat. When the main melody makes its presence felt midway through, the track is elevated to a whole new level altogether. It’s a fittingly impressive end to Takovoi’s new EP for Leng.


TRACK LISTING

1. Perfect Match
2. Homesickness
3. Dreams
4. Bubbles
5. Another The Same

The Emperor Machine & Séverine Mouletin

Your Own Style

Having first joined forces in 2021 for the simultaneously sleazy and sweet ‘Dance Par Amour’ – a typically analogue-rich chunk of electronic disco wonkiness with nods to both dub disco and leftfield early ‘80s synth-pop – The Emperor Machine and Severine Mouletin have returned to Leng with a similarly inspired sequel.

By now, you should all know the work of Andy Meecham as The Emperor Machine; since first utilising the pseudonym two decades ago, Meecham has delivered a swathe of acclaimed albums and singles for D.C Recordings, Southern Fried Records, Internasjonal, Vertical Tones and Skint. Since first appearing on Leng last year, Meecham has focused on collaborating with vocalists – something he often shied away from when it came to Emperor Machine material.

‘Your Own Style’, which does a terrific job in showcasing rising star Mouletin’s intriguing lyrics and tender but confident vocals, is another strong Emperor Machine release. Showcasing many of the stylistic ticks that have long marked out his work (not just as a solo producer, but also as part of Chicken Lips), it once again boasts a suite of alternative versions – as well as additional guitar trickery from legendary A Certain Ratio musician Martin Moscrop.

The EP is led by Meecham’s ‘Alt Mix’, where Mouletin’s distinctive vocals, warming electric piano motifs and wild, proto-house style vintage synth sounds ride a hand-percussion rich groove marked out by a typically addictive, ear-catching electronic bassline. With Meecham reaching for the tape echo and delay (an aural hallmark of his productions and reflective of his love of dubbed-out electronic disco), the track is a sparse, mind-altering chunk of new wave-informed mid-tempo electronic disco.

It comes backed by two distinctive dubs in Meecham’s trademark style. There’s a ‘Dub Vocal’ mix in which selected snippets of Mouletin’s bi-lingual vocal rise and fall around a subtly tougher, spaced-out take on Meecham’s musical arrangement smothered in effects, and a ‘Fun Dub’ that’s altogether sweeter, more playful, informed by electro (one of Meecham’s earliest musical loves) and high on additional percussion, warming Rhodes riffs and Chicken Lips-esque synthesiser flourishes.

Those who buy the digital edition of the EP also get two more mixes: Meecham’s original ‘Extended Vocal’ and ‘Extended Instrumental’ takes. Slightly warmer and hazier than the EP-leading ‘Alt Mix’ and boasting a more obvious electro shuffle, these two takes are every bit as alluring and ear-catching as those showcased on the vinyl version

TRACK LISTING

A1. Your Own Style (alternate Mix)
B1. Your Own Style (dub Vocal)
B2. Your Own Style (Fun Dub) 

There’s much to be said for chance meetings. Vitruvians – in their words, “a meeting of minds, cultures, styles and experiences, powered by music, and designed by faith” – owe their very existence to once such random encounter. In the summer of 2014, producers Frankie Valentine and Thomas “T-Ash” Sciurpa bumped into each other in a London shoe shop. Over a fine selection of brogues and loafers, the conversation drifted onto music. The duo quickly realized they had much in common, and a plan began to form: they would get together and make music as Vitruvians, using the alias as a vehicle for their collaborative work. Some 18 months and numerous recording sessions in England and Italy later, the first Vitruvians record is ready for release. Dropping on Paul Murphy and Simon Purnell’s Leng Records imprint, “Spaghetti Saloon” is a banjo-pickin’ hoedown at the last drinking hole in the Milky Way. Propelled forwards by a restless drum machine rhythm, the duo’s original version expertly combines winding synthesizer melodies, wild honky-tonk piano solos, clanging ‘closing time’ bells, and the most loved-up banjo player in the galaxy. Ennio Morricone, eat your heart out.
The flipside of the 12” features a pair of tasty, DJ-friendly revisions. There’s the chugging Banjo Dub, where delay-laden bells and undulating banjo lines rub shoulders with a throbbing, space disco groove, and the even more psychedelic and alluring Piano Dub. As the title suggests, this pushes the duo’s distinctive keys work to the fore, stretching out the life affirming solos in a bid to incite even greater dancefloor abandon. Down a glass of bourbon, grab a partner, and get dancin’.


TRACK LISTING

A. Spaghetti Saloon
B. Spaghetti Saloon (Banjo Dub)
B. Spaghetti Saloon (Piano Dub)


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