- SoCal-earic. That's how Philip Sherburne described the second Young Adults release, from Suzanne Kraft, last year. I've struggled to find any better descriptor. The Los Angeles crew aren't redefining disco, but there is something unusually breezy and very California about what they do (even if some of them aren't actually from California). They wear the spirit of classic house flamboyance without just ripping it off, and they fashion the retro-futurist shimmer of disco edits into something meatier than just loops. Their first full-length, House Slippers, expands the label's roster while maintaining their style of bottom-bump kick drums and fluffy cloud synthesizers.
Sasha Anastasov's opening remix is Young Adults in a nutshell. It's excessive and sprawling—the intro alone is three minutes long—but every pristine sparkle feels totally worth it. The pseudo-Michael McDonald vocal is so overwrought you'd think it has to be a joke, but I don't think it is, which makes it even better. Everything on House Slippers pulses with that same disco heartbeat, but shined up with an iridescent oil coat. A tapestry of funk guitar samples on Closed Paradise's "The Daulphin" is kneaded into liquid. Even the skeletal "Mr Everything" by NYCPARTYINFO is quickly beset by silky pads to soften its jagged dancepunk angles.
Of all the participants, Mark E probably has the most star power, but he turns in the compilation's strangest moment. "Fake Bitches" is a burned out husk of broken guitars and harsh stutters. Then it's all muddled by a concrete grinder bassline that threatens complete eclipse. But it also proves that this crew isn't just about summery grooves—they can do anxious, as on Permanent Vacation's stunning remix of Suzanne Kraft, and they can do regal, as with Grown Folk's elegiac curtain call "Just Wear It." They're not all perfect—Chamboche's "Into The Murk" is a little too murky—but most labels just three releases in would kill for a compilation this strong.
Tracklist01. The Socialites feat. Tesla Boy - Only This Moment (Sasha Anastasov Remix)
02. Closed Paradise - The Daulphin
03. Suzanne Kraft - Maybe Snakes (Permanent Vacation Remix)
04. Chamboche - Into The Murk
05. Mark E - Fake Bitches
06. NYCPARTYINFO - Mr. Everything
07. Ben La Desh - Le Us Down
08. Grown Folk - Just Wear It