Various ‎– Eargear

This 4 track ep contains some of the best music in the minimal/tech house sub genre that I have heard in a long time. However, to file this record firmly under any one genre or sub genre would be unfair. Amidst the four tracks you will find strong shades of deep house, more techno-oriented sounds and aspects of more ambient electronica.

The opener, Paul Frick's "Favourite Song", combines tiny fragments of vocal with deep chords, set against a lively drum track. The result is a very deep and soulful sounding house track, which seems to convincingly bridge the gap between traditional house and the more minimal glitch-infused music of recent years. It is in one sense scrappy like older house music but also has that clinical precision in production which underpins a lot of minimal music.

Scott's "Swingwhat" is perhaps the simplest track on the ep. However, in keeping with the overall quality of this ep, this track is very enjoyable. It is essentially made up of a sombre organ loop with a marching drum track.

"Bats in Twilight" by Frivolous is, arguably, the most modern sounding track on the ep. In other words, it is not as grounded in the sounds of deep house and is more identifiable as what is referred to as tech house. However, it oozes character and is, in my opinion, much stronger than a lot of the music which gets tagged "minimal" nowadays. This track is wonderfully put together and combines a sorrowful sounding hook with an upbeat drum track and jazzy horn part. It hops from being very ambient and relaxed to being aggressive and frenetic at one point. The tune has a beautiful atmosphere to it, sounding simultaneously upbeat and sad in a way that reminds me of Agoria's Le Beaux Jour.

As its title would suggest, the Le K track "Moody Rainbow" is fairly deep and dark sounding. It is dominated by an excellent bass line which plods along against a backdrop of deep chords and that wonderful eerie synth tone you find in a lot of soulful music dating back to the 70s. On top of this, the vocal adds more depth and the track is complimented nicely with creepy high end sounds throughout. In the closing minute, the tune descends into a more minimal techno sounding hypnotic loop reminiscent of Robert Hood's "Minus".

Overall, I would consider this ep a must buy. All four tracks are wonderfully put together and fuse many elements of house music to great effect. Aspects of deep house are complimented with more unconventional sounds and infectious vocals.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!