Tale Of Us & Vaal - Concor EP

Techhouse Tuesday #008





After the sensation caused by its last release, Life and Death comes back strong with another battle cry into the darkness. With a prized new member of the family, Vaal, joining forces with a Life and Death mainstay, Tale of Us, the stage is set for another epic EP from the forward thinking label.

On the A side Concor grabs the listener with its immediate sense of urgency and a beckoning, slightly exotic melody. As it slowly twists and turns, moving ever more insistently towards its peak it propels the listener to a distant exotic land, as a throbbing beat and cymbals accentuate and elevate the tension. Already a mainstay of the few DJs lucky enough to get their hands on it early, this is sure to be one that will lodge itself deeply into the collective unconscious as we make the long march thru winter and back to summer again.

Over on the B side comes Seahnak, an equally beautiful piece of music that manages to present its intricate melody without ever letting its energy dip. Gothic and yet regal at the same time, as the lead synth shoots out the gate, it takes us on a surprising journey as it pushes the limits of what we might expect from dance music while raising our expectations of it in the process.

Ten Walls - Requiem

Techhouse Tuesday #003





The concept of Ten Walls is simple. A music driven project where the focus is moved away from the personality of the artist so that the music can more directly speak for itself. And that concept seems to be working well so far. After first appearing on the scene in early 2013 with its debut 'Gotham EP'  on Innervisions, Ten Walls quickly became a sensation as Gotham became a staple of DJs worldwide. One of those ubiquitous tunes that you can't escape but never seem to get enough of. Now with its second EP, Ten Walls joins Life and Death with a follow up that sits perfectly with the ever evolving yet quite distinct Life and Death sound. An EP that takes artistic experimentation and meshes it with a technical prowess that translates to music that works equally as well on the dancefloor as it does off of it. With "Ankaris", Ten Walls sets the tone with a droning soundscape over solid beats and arepeggiated synths that combine to tell the tale of a distant land, somewhere off in a far corner of the galactic federation. A journey to a faraway place but with emotions every listener can very quickly connect to... Picking up the pace slightly, "Mongol" tells the tale of nomadic tribes and ancient conflict. With a throbbing bass, haunting pads and an ethnic lead that seems to come from another era, Mongol seamlessly mixes sounds of both the past and the future to create something that stands out of time and firmly on it own. With a name like "Requiem" one might not expect the big tune that is hidden behind the understated title. But a big one it is, with an infectious lead that builds and builds as a beckoning cowbell dances around its center. Deceptively simple yet anything but, the whole of the track continues onwards and upwards taking the dancefloor along with it. A  euphoric embrace that will hold any dancefloor in its grip and is most certainly a worthy successor to Gotham -- as Ten Walls proves that its focus on the music is most certainly a fruitful one.