Touane
Part II
February 2010.
The second installment of the Studio Works series is led by an addictive funky twist.
TOUANE ON LHD-002:
1 - The Slapper
Behind The Slapper there’s one year of work, as I sporadically went back to the track 3 times with long intervals in between while I was working on other stuff. At first laid down in the crazy squatted studio I used to share with Stewart back in 2008, actually one of the last pieces I produced there. From that vibe comes the more played feel of the track , as I was using my bass much more than I do now. Moved to the actual Left Handed studio, I revamped the track changing up a bit the arrangement and adding a lot of synth lines. During the final third session, I tried to re-gain control of the huge number of tracks trying to craft a smoother mix. It is definitely the most complicated piece of music I produced to far, and has a spacey-fusion feel that I could consider the arriving point of a ever growing interest in this whole Jazz-Fusion thing. In a way, I tried to sum up here all those influences in a kind of progressive-disco opera. Now time to move on.
2 - The Slapper Reprise
A reprise is the way I decided to call my self-remixing. Tried to focus on the more funky elements of the previous track and I tightened the drums up. The arrangement got a simple A/B structure, where the first movement is a fluid one and the second a varying break that builds up tension and resolves again back to A. Had a big smile and an hysterical shaking of the head for the whole time I spent on this one, and I feel it has an almost perfect groove.
3 - Chicken Wings
The third track of the ep is the lightest one concerning the mood. Still with a similar palette of the previous two, here the rhythm is straight and direct, in a kind of micro house fashion that I used to love during my stay in Bologna in early 2000s. Definitely in debt with what was coming over from Germany back then, it reminds me of some 12” from Trapez, Perlon, Kompakt etc.. I was playing back when I used to call myself a dj. I love the variety of the elements coming up behind the main bouncey groove, and the general thoughtless feel of this piece.