teshno

just when you start to think you’ve heard every deep house aesthetic possible, along comes an ep that restores your faith entirely and proves there’s new life in the genre yet. released on young but auspicious berlin label, odd socks, ‘kdim’ by relative newcomers glenn astro and imyrmind deals in plenty of roughness and rawness. it’s a roughness and rawness not born from desolate warehouses and urban decay, though, but more the sort of aged, frayed edges that inevitably appear on something you love; something you use a lot – a teddy, a record sleeve, a book – in that way it’s a heart-warming, cosy and intimate ep equally suited to early evening warm ups as it is lazy sunday come downs.

‘kdim (original mix)’ is a slow and lethargic deep house shuffler with pixelated melodies subtly appearing through a thick and humid fug of crackle, static and hissing. a gorgeous breakdown is brought to life with a great little vocal snippet and the whole thing puts you in mind of some smoky basement jazz club. the remixed version has slightly sharper claps cutting through layers of vintage sediment, and the beats here swing more than lurch. a deep-in-the-mix bassline adds dynamism and contrast, surreptitiously sweeping you along: the results, to my mind, are something akin to smallville doing a deeper than deep take on garage flecked new jersey house. whatever, it’s beautiful.

‘new pair’ is the least conventional offering, where broken beats, glassy tinkles and scattered percussion all slowly skip along in a cloud of unsettled dust. the counterpoints here are a clean female vocal and shiny melodic tinkles, both acting as nice contrasts to the smooth, fuzzy warmth pervading the rest of the ep. the same track appears again in a ‘re-paired’ version but is wholly unrecognisable. this one’s all itchy perc, sandy shakers and takes tiny little steps as a cheeky one-finger melody adds a naughty charm. with their roughshod yet romantic approach, glenn astro and imyrmind are finding plenty of new milage in the familiar old beast that is deep house. hurrah.

listen/buy it

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