Walker Barnard :: Follow The Smoke EP (Adjunct Audio)

This will appeal to those who like their dance music served with a healthy slab of groove and depth. Bouncy enough to keep feet and bodies moving in the club, with more then enough subtleties of texture and rhythm to keep it in your most used playlists.

This is deep funky house in a minimal techno vein. Deceptively simple sounding on first listen, giving up its secrets slowly. This will appeal to those who like their dance music served with a healthy slab of groove and depth. Bouncy enough to keep feet and bodies moving in the club, with more then enough subtleties of texture and rhythm to keep it in your most used playlists.

It should be no surprise that this release delivers the goods, Walker Barnard has some history in this department. Originally from the USA, Walker has been involved with making music for many a long year now. He initially started as a bass player, and you can hear this as an influence in his productions. The groove is always there, driving things along, underlying and permeating the richly layered sounds. His credentials are impressive, when you take into account his years spent producing hip hop in New York for such luminaries as Company Flow, Cannibal Ox (two of my all time favorite hip hop outfits), Saul Williams and a whole list of others.

Since relocating to Berlin in 2008, he has been working seriously on his personal take on the music he loves, and that music is deep, dirty and funky. This release will not disappoint those who are familiar with his much acclaimed The Discoball Miner EP on Unfoundsound.

The title track “Follow The Smoke” is a deep thickly layered beast that sucks you in with hypnotic rhythms and a bassline that seems to have a life of its own. Subtle ambient sounds float in and out, swirling about in the space behind the percussive backbone of drums and bass. Some of it quite surreal, some verging on nasty, all coming together to reinforce the general current of the track. It seems like I notice something new with each listen.

The remix by Ryan Crosson retains a heavy groove and drive similar to the original, but with the interesting use of a trumpet line the track takes on a completely new feel. Still very deep, and with maybe even more background sounds building and swirling, this a trippy journey that I am happy to be taken on. The second remix of this track is by Clovis, and is a completely different interpretation. Also very deep, in the minimal tech vein, but this time with a much more ethereal laid back vibe. The soaring strings that gradually build, seemingly from nowhere to envelope your listening consciousness suddenly burst into a haunting melody that tries to lift your entire body off the ground and up to the clouds. Maybe not ideal for the dance floor, but beautiful.

The second original track, “Sufi Futurist,” (audio stream below) has a tribal feel that is more then a little hypnotic. With percussion from various sources and effected sounds creating a droney repeating ambience, it does have a slight ritualistic feel to it, as suggested in the blurb from the label. This is a less bouncy track then the first, lacking as it does a driving upfront bassline. That doesn’t mean it lacks depth however, far from it. On a good set of speakers or headphones this track keeps your head nodding and the understated bass sounds and rhythms draw you in and lock you onto the subtle groove. I particularly enjoyed the take on the female house vocal sample, which in this case sounds more like a snippet of a native American ritualistic chant thanks to the heavy use of reverb and delay.

On the remix buttons for this is the pairing of Big Bully and Odnu, who combine to give a slightly dubby take on the track. A bass line that is so low as to be more felt then heard and squirming twitching samples and synth sounds that can’t find a moments rest amid filter tweaks and delay effects layered up with some downright odd sounds and pitched percussion that incessantly moves creating tension and resolution like a modern art student.

This collection of tracks is a solid all rounder if you like intelligent deep funky house and minimal techno. The first couple are definite DJ material, but all of them are great to stick on at home or on your personal player, in which context they are outstanding and something of a journey.

Follow The Smoke EP is out now on Adjunct Audio.

[audio:http://igloomag.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Walker-Barnard-Sufi-Futurist.mp3|titles=Walker Barnard – Sufi Futurist]

Adjunct Audio