John Barera & Will Martin - Yen

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  • Bostonians Will Martin and John Barera came together last year for the excellent "Reality," a casually perfect slice of retro feel-good house that was the centrepiece of Steffi's Panorama Bar mix. The duo have teamed up again for a four-tracker on Barera's Supply Records that equals its predecessor. With "Awake," Barera and Martin have another go at the filter-happy disco house of "Reality" and they knock it out of the park. Full of swooping strings and bounding drums, it's like they found some old French house record in an attic, so hopelessly cheery it's hard to imagine anyone disliking it. Offering a more sultry twist on the formula, "Say It Now" is all bongos and Rhodes, a dizzy head rush with ecstatic diva vocals thrown in for good measure. If the A-side is for summertime open-airs, then the B-side brings the dark room vibes (or as dark as these two get). "Unknown Factor" has big rounded pads, simple but addictive chords and a fluid techno groove that sounds right out of the early '90s. "Yen" is shaded with sepia tone through a melancholy lead. It later looks up to the stars with a cosmic synth breakdown that'd make Rick Wakeman blush. Nothing about this four-tracker is particularly trendy or eye opening, but just like "Reality" before it, it's so well done that you could easily mistake the release for an old classic.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Awake A2 Say It Now B1 Unknown Factor B2 Yen
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