It’s been awhile since we had a record review on Kitchen Heat, so let’s have a look at some of my recent favourites courtesy of partners-in-crime Ian Pooley and DJ Tonka.
Tonka and Pooley were schoolmates in Mainz, a city near Frankfurt. Along with contemporaries Mousse T and Boris Dlugosch, the pair have redefined the German electronic aesthetic from one of cold techno and cheesy trance towards the warm sounds of the funkiest house. Tonka became known for his disco-breaks sound, while Pooley’s sound bridges the gap between techno and house. To be fair, both artists have broadened the scope of their palettes in recent years forging roads into the other’s territory.
Ian Pooley feat. Tim Fuller – What I Got (Derrick Carter Remix) (Pooledmusic)Buy it now
here or
here.
“What I Got” is deep. Pooley blends Tim Fuller’s falsetto over a funky synth bassline, lush pads, bleepy gated lead, and string-inflected rolls for the kind of deep house one usually associates with Ron Trent, Miguel Migs, and Masters at Work. It’s good, but not great. The real reason to pick up this 12” is the Derrick Carter remix. Carter is one of the second wave of great underground house producers from Chicago who made his name in the 1990s producing amazing remixes for European artists. On this remix he dispenses with all but the vocal, underpinning it with a funky, shuffling drum track. What’s interesting about the track is the lack of sounds: it is literally a beat, a 303 squiggle through a low-pass filter and someone panting low in the mix. That’s it! And yet both the remix and the dub seem to have so much to hear. Remixes like this show just what can be done with a less-is-more approach to arranging. Minimal techno could learn a thing or two from Derrick Carter.
Tonka – Orca (Ian Pooley’s Orca Mallorca Remix) (Great Stuff)Buy it now
here or
here.
Tonka’s “Orca” is straight-ahead techno of a sort that has fallen out of fashion amongst all but the ‘heads: Driving drum track, one-note bassline, ray-gun lead and pitch-bent siren. The title comes from the manner in which the siren is bent so as to suggest whalesong. It’s a departure for Tonka, to say the least, and it could definitely benefit from a bit of his former disco-break polish. Thankfully, Ian Pooley steps in to give it some of his patented funk. Keeping only the siren, Pooley adds quiet pads, a ticking clavier, a beeping one-note lead and a nice round bassline to give it a shot of urgency missing from the original.
Ian Pooley vs. Zoo Brazil – Reader (Tonka Remix) (Pooledmusic)Buy it now
here or
here.
Pooley teamed up with prolific Swedish producer Zoo Brazil on this one. What they produced is a split 12” with one version Pooley’s (deep house), one version Brazil’s (tech-house), and Tonka’s remix. Someone had the forethought to put Tonka’s remix on the A-side, and rightly so as it takes the best bits of the other versions, cross-breeds them and comes up with the techno stormer that Orca tries to be and more. In addition to the “Oh-oh-oh-oh” vocal present in both Pooley and Brazil versions, Tonka adds some string pads and a Ferris Bueller sample: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” The sample’s relaxed message is in smirking contrast to the percussive bassline, driving backbeat, and oh-oh sample, giving the track the kind of subtle, delicious irony not often seen in modern dance music.
Pooley and Tonka seem to have learned real lessons from the current popularity of minimal techno. Less is more and focus on the mix. It’s the kind of thinking that will keep me listening, that much is certain.
