- Take a look at Bicep's blog and you get the feeling the lads behind it like the simple things in life. Beefy house and disco, banter and burgers. Staying on brand, the first release on the Northern Irish duo's new label keeps things nicely uncomplicated. An EP of unashamedly retro house music, Vision of Love seems to take the best obscure '90's cuts from their blog, fillet out the choice elements and then stitch the whole thing back together with a hefty dose of bottom-end.
Take Exhibit A: "Getcha Boi." Parping MK horns, drum programming that could be from a Nice & Ripe record and cut up vox that may or may not have been lifted from an early Kerri Chandler effort. It's a cut and shut of a record. But there's simply no denying what an effective club track it is. "Keep Keep" continues in a similar fashion. It's all swinging New Jersey snares, splashy hi-hats and naggingly familiar sounding vocal stabs.
The highlight of the EP, by quite some distance, is "Vision of Love." Mixing euphoric pianos and high octane vocal ticks, the record has an air of Tony Lionni's epic "Found a Place" about it: albeit with an added garage bump thrown in. It's the kind of record that instantly paints a smile across a sweaty club at 5 AM. Unfussy and straight to the point, it's quite simply a banger. Many producers, or label owners for that matter, take years to find a voice that's theirs. With this EP and a hugely well-received release on Love Fever Records, Bicep are already settling on a style that they can ostensibly call their own—even if most of the best bits would seem to be borrowed from house music's class of '94.
Tracklist A Vision Of Love
B1 Keep Keep
B2 Getcha Boi