Brothers Roman and Marcel Fritz have developed a formidable reputation from just a select handful of strong, 909-led house EPs for Offenbach’s Connaisseur and remixes for the likes of Tsuba and Crosstown Rebels. Their no-nonsense ‘real’ house ethic has won many a fan, including the Hypercolour team, who first picked the guys for a remix in 2009 and subsequently pestered the duo for a release.
That release is the “Retune EP”, four tracks of robust, deep modern house packaged with a remix from the label’s Alex Jones.
Whether it’s the simplicity of the title track and it’s one chord stab motif, the Pagan-esque skippy drum and flute combination of “Flute”, the warped vox of “Faces” or the dense off-kilter melodies of “Smoothly” each track is imbued with an earthy, analog feel which oozes charm. This feel, in no part hampered by some excellent FM bass tweakery and 909 work, is pure Plasmik.
Alex Jones’ rebuilding of “Faces” doesn’t harm things on this EP, either. His almost myopic, belligerent attitude to the avoidance of trends has resulted in much of his work completely polarising opinions but that is his greatest asset and it shows here. Rough, un-quantized drums sit loosely under shuffling loops while layered snares and a bizarre walking bassline make for a woozy piece of dancefloor tomfoolery which is as wonderful as it is unique.
This is a cracking start to the year from Hypercolour and potentially the last release from Plasmik for some time, so check it out