- Luca Roccatagliati and Fabrizio Taver Tavernelli have been collaborating as Ajello for a decade now. The Italian duo's profile has risen over the past three years, in part due to their buoyant brand of Italo-house winning favour with the likes of Erol Alkan, Laurent Garnier and Andrew Weatherall. During this same period, West London label Retrospective have been operating within, and to some extent pioneering, the nu-boogie movement.
For the first volume of a two-EP set, Ajello align with Retrospective's signature sound, with two originals that nod to the mid-'80s. The title track is a spacious jaunt, underpinned by a hefty sub-line and an assembly of cowbells. "Saturday Morning" sticks closer to the Italo-house handbook via a reverberating hall of echoes and warped sirens.
A Love Letter From Outer Space co-founder Sean Johnson provides a remix of the title track under his Hardway Brothers moniker. The Londoner gives it a dubby and acid-laced overhaul, before Manchester's Chris Massey completes the B-side remixes in an equally assured fashion with a disco version. For the additional digital remixes, Verdo delivers a trance-driven, and comparatively less absorbing, rework of "Kalimba Tune," while Retrospective's Ruben & Ra drop "Saturday Morning" into deeper waters and raid a vocal sample from the chorus of De La Soul's "Saturdays."
Tracklist A1 Kalimba Tune
A2 Saturday Morning
B1 Kalimba Tune (Hardway Bros remix)
B2 Kalimba Tune (Chris Massey remix)