Take a breath. Check your change. Once more Lux is setting off on another journey into the shadows of 808 monuments and Chitown inspiration.
Lux Rec is a label to follow. It started off on the right foot, some muscular acid from Detroit’s Jared Wilson, and since the Swiss imprint has dipped its pen into a number of house inkpots. Take a breath. Check your change. Once more Lux is setting off on another journey into the shadows of 808 monuments and Chitown inspiration.
Paul Mitchell, aka Meschi, is a Glaswegian electronic protégé. A denizen of London, Mr Mitchell has been dishing out mixes since a teenager. Now skirting his early twenties Meschi has released on Dublin’s Lunar Disko, with appearances on Cyberdance and Snuff Traxx. Mitchell is also responsible for co-founding This Is Our House, a blog and mix site to serve up words and cuts of electronics. 2012 sees Meschi arrive on Lux with Light Wave Theory. The rumbling undercurrents of “Origins” opens. The track slowly builds, rising into a complex work of house tinted electronics. Meschi takes the structures of house and rearranges them. The 707 drives but the melodies slow the pace. “Cosmos” meanders down deep tracts, flexing within its parameters. Mitchell continues to trawl the depths with the finale. “Theory” folds thick panels of synth in hi-hat and snare. Melodies stretch and reshape with beats fortifying this impressive curtain fall.
Home-grown talent Echo 106 pursues with Winter Music. The quirky 303 lines of “Imperfect Desires” gets things underway. The track utilizes the ingredients of house to produce a breezy piece of electronics. “Concealed by Falling Snow” is a beautiful work of immersion. The machinery is used to dab out a delicate number, a warm and thoughtful piece. The floor gets a look-in with the beats and tweaks of “Nightfall Call.” A dagger-toothed edge stalking throughout, Echo 106 juxtaposes solemnity with a sinister slant. “Unwelcome Visitor” is a dark piece of acidified ambience. Drone and beats float across broad 303 squirms. A slower, electro mood, descends with “Brummen Awaits”—a spartan analogue piece that inherits the deep chords of its predecessors. The record closes with the twisted claustrophobia of “Native Ancient Ritual.” There is a touch of Jamal Moss to this organic piece, a blend of the synthetic and the natural to produce a powerful end.
Take a trip to your local record shop, the racks bulge with slabs of freshly squeezed 707, 808 and 909 sounds. A testament to the house revival. There’s a lot of second rate Chicago and New York pastiche floating around, dilute attempts to replicate the past—labels unsure of their objective and following a fad. Lux is not in this category. Since its first steps, the Swiss imprint has set its eyes on quality. For the latest twosome they have sheathed some of the rawer undercurrents of former releases. Meschi soaks the listener in deep house tones with some sharpness for balance. Echo 106 comes from a similar position, engaging vintage Chitown elements to produce a new, yet familiar, sound.
Both releases are available on Lux Rec.
Buy Winter Music at Juno.
Buy Light Wave Theory at Juno.
