Lilting harmonies frayed by tough toms and snapping snares, a diverted dancefloor for the unsure and the insecure.
It’s always a sickener when someone steals your coat from the club. True, I’m of the age where the cloakroom is no longer prohibitively expensive (two euro being a king’s ransom some years back.) But, sensibility and dance music do not always go together. I was complaining about this situation to DJ Sneaker, aka Thomas Smorek, at a recent Zodiac night in Madrid. The Dresden artist is building up a head of steam. Gigs are coming thick and fast and new EPs are being released, hence the review.
The epic “Holistical (Solton Beat) feat. Ewa Smyk” introduces. Clocking in at over near fourteen minutes, terse it ain’t. A simple drum pattern supports heavily accented English lyrics, the words combining a love yearning with a first year sociology mentality. Claps arrive to give foundation, bass throbbing. In a way this is a European take on the Chicago monologue classics such Jackmaster Dick’s “Sensuous Woman,” an academic extended version if you will. Smorek ducks under his Dunkeltier hood with an edit of “Queen of the Night.” I must admit, I’m not familiar with the original but the track employs floor catching beat patterns with some wonderful wavering weaving strings. Something of a Ron Hardy taking on 1920s movie score comes to mind. A powerful piece if ever there was one. Sneaker enjoys the clatter of a House rhythm, a structure that runs throughout the 12”. But what surrounds the drum is constantly changing. “Gebet” utilises the trademark 707 sounds, but around the lisping percussion ghosts a melody so wraith-like that you could even miss it. Again, it feels as if soundtracks have had an influence as strings slink and swirl in this absorbing end.
Holisitical is quite different to the first outing on Uncanny Valley. The vocals of Java/Sumatra have been rightly sidelined and instead the music is allowed to, well, speak. The title track has fundamental merits and builds quite a groove, but it’s unnecessarily long. It’s the B-Side where Sneaker really finds his feet. Poor pun, I know but both “Queen of the Night” and “Gebet” have a fantastic subtlety to them. Lilting harmonies frayed by tough toms and snapping snares, a diverted dancefloor for the unsure and the insecure.
Holistical is available on Lunatic.
