DJ Subaru returns to Palms Trax’s CWPT with ‘Dog’, showcasing three tracks of offbeat dancefloor material that encompasses throbbing italo, sticky indie dancefloors and snarling, timeless punk. Title track ‘Dog’ reunites DJ Subaru with regular vocal collaborator Chopper Johnson, delivering a gratifying sermon of canine defiance to suit Subaru’s razor-sharp motorik disco, whose pumping bassline and angular guitar licks prove irresistible to dancers.
Rich in melody and instantly classic in feel, Luca dell’Orso debuts on CWPT with a mini-album of lush Italo, sensitively summoned from the Netherlands. Having impressed with previous releases on labels including Bordello A Parigi and Red Laser Records, this longer player demonstrates a delicate approach to his studio, flitting between pop songwriting and analog experimentation.
DJ Subaru makes an accomplished production debut on CWPT with ‘Lots of Love’. DJ Subaru instinctively mines the expressive, outsider strains of disco, Italo and pop pleasures in their record bag, revealing an EP that throbs with the pleasures, pain and potential of a life in strobes and smoke. Vocalist and muse Tiss Vampiric emerges from London’s shadowy underground to lend their voice to the brooding, disco-Gothic track, ‘My Love’. Stalking a moody paradise amongst DJ Subaru’s EBM-oriented synthesizers, their baroque lyrics conjure an atmosphere that bridges the energies of subversive pioneers such as Soft Cell and Ministry, a sensual maze where denial only leads to more devotion, as well as more dancing. Keeping the lights dim but brightening the corners, the prolific cosmic disco pioneer Prins Thomas reinvigorates his legendary ‘Diskomiks’ approach for a euphoric remix of ‘My Love’.
CWPT deliver four tracks of intoxicating after-hours dance music from Italian duo, Voodoos & Taboos. ‘Tropical Love’ refines the V&T sound further still into physicality and sensuality alike. DJs with a taste for sunrise and beyond are truly spoiled for choice by Voodoos & Taboos, with each track bottling a different level of rave energy. Another fine addition to the steadily expanding back catalogue of Palms Trax’s label, ‘Tropical Love’ is a refreshing turn for those with no intention of calling it a night; heads music with real heart.
REES’s debut on CWPT is a classy and globally informed perspective on house, disco and acid styles. Undistilled rhythm is at the heart of Rees’s vision of club culture; on title track, Devils Club, it’s effect makes itself known immediately, driving a channel of lively percussion towards a series of tasteful breakdowns that are both propulsive and alluring. On ‘Magic’, a confidently raw, loose drum loop accelerates into a glossy, psychedelic speed-chase that’s pure Miami Vice reimagined in Middlesbrough. On the flip, two versions of ‘The Spirit’ tastefully expand beyond REES’s musical borders and into warm, cinematic territory, blending tropically tinted instrumentation with (and then without) an entrancing vocal sample.
Palms Trax signals the arrival of his new label CWPT with ‘Petu’, a new single featuring South African vocalist, Nonku Phiri. Originally debuting in dub form during the Berlin-based DJ and producer’s set at The Music Locker as part of Grand Theft Auto Online, ‘Petu’ re-emerges here as a soulful collaboration, neatly complimented by a wide-eyed take from Masalo. Initially written as a slow-heating instrumental to connect the various musical dots across a DJ set, Palms Trax nonetheless had a vocalist in mind throughout, a fresh voice to lend ‘Petu’ universality and energy. Introduced through mutual friend Esa, Johannesburg’s Nonku Phiri draws on her signature style influenced by vintage Afropop styles and folk traditions, delivering a smooth and vulnerable tale of desire.
The Hipodrome Of Music 