Posted 2012-02-23 in Releases   Permalink

DSK008: Mau’lin - Function Open

1. Function Open
2. Duties
3. Starbeast
4. Function Open (Jack Dixon Remix)
5. Function Open (Am Rhein Remix)
6. Function Open (Greeen Linez Remix)

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Following on from Diskotopia Various Artists Volume One, Diskotopia continue their second year of activity with a massive release from Mau’lin. The London based artist, previously releasing on labels such as Alexander Nut’s Ho Tep Records, makes his Diskotopia debut with 3 heavy dancefloor gems, backed with remixes from Jack Dixon, and Diskotopia family Am Rhein and Greeen Linez.

Title track Function Open, marks an exercise into a light/dark juxtaposition; heavy musique concrète broken beat patterns are bounced around playfully whilst ominous string pads and screaming synth-toms shudder the solid urban funk energy.

Duties recalls pirate radio soundtracked midnight taxi rides around east London; begrimed breaks coated with pin-prick stabs glisten in headlights before getting dissolved in an inertia wash of luscious synth.

Starbeast is a much darker and even more late-night affair. Sci-fi pads elevate a drum n’ bass and breaks influenced sturdy UK dynamism, proving a prime exemplification of the Diskotopia “timeless” ethic, as millennium era flashbacks haunt a modern dancefloor classic.

With previous releases and remixes on labels such Brownswood and Skint, London-based artist Jack Dixon has already been making a name for himself in the electronic scene. Here his techno infused take on Function Open smartens up the original into a mature and sophisticated warehouse experience without losing any of the dirty burghal virility.

Japanese female Diskotopia resident DJ Am Rhein makes her recording debut on this EP with her haunted remix of the title track. Whilst swapping the broken beats for a New York house inspired four-to-the floor rhythm, she partners the howling synth-toms of the original with relentless washed-out chords, arpeggio flourishes and Sakamoto-esque chimes.

Greeen Linez close the EP with an unimaginable re-imagining of the A-side. Those hallmark toms penetrate a pairing of G-funk groove and airy DX7 drenched nostalgia; if Jan Hammer had produced R&B it may very well have sounded like this.