(03.29.08) Speak Recordings is a fledgling US imprint, being in existence since 2006. Since its birth the label has focused on an amalgamation of house, techno and electro. Speak are staying in this groove with their latest release from Michoacan aka Fernando Miranda Rios. This new three tracker is entitled Held Up.
The record opens with the original/vocal mix of “Held Up.” Speak’s press release promotes Micoacan’s music as a “genre-less” sound, and this it is. The opening track lies on a grey ground of downtempo and electroclash. The beats and synthlines are shrouded under a thick fog of saccharin pop lyrics that subtract greatly from the melodies that lie beneath. The Naum Gabo remix of “Held Up” follows aspects of the vocal mix. The track is much more interesting than its predecessor with the lacklustre lyrics being present but taking much more of a back seat role as Naum Gabo offers up some spacey arpeggios and deep bass to add something sorely missing in the original. The 12″ ends on “Held Up (Michoacan Lord Synthius Take),” the track of the record. Synthesizers and drum machines are unchained from the originals mundane lyrics and allowed to dominate and soar across the piece. Rising melodies blend with nu disco beat to create an analogue rich work with a touch of the cosmic.
If you picked up Held Up in a record store it would be a surprising result for it to end up on a home turntable, simply because the original mix (the first track on the record) lets the whole EP down. Naum Gabo’s remix is a far more advanced and interesting track than the “Held Up (Vocal Mix),” and the Lord Synthius Take is a great number. The record is poorly weighted, but the material that lies beyond A1 is worth checking out.
Held Up is out now on Speak. [Purchase]
