- With Boso's first release, "Walking With Elephants," currently making its unstoppable way across Ibiza and beyond, their second, from Ten Walls' fellow Lithuanian Few Nolder, has a risk of falling in its shadow. It doesn't deserve to, though. Clouds takes hefty melodic hooks and adds a hard-edged tech to the equation, which very much gives it a value of its own.
True, the hooks aren't quite as strong. (Few are.) The way the main riff in "Clouds" sidesteps at the end makes it drift just shy of anthemic territory, although judging by the title that's probably the point. "Woody" is driven by lumbering bass notes that sound like the tech-funk equivalent of banging on logs. And the warm, acidic burbles in "Chestnut" are like the swirling patterns in the grain of the material in question.
They're all very workable dance floor cuts. "Chall," on the other hand, is decidedly top drawer. Its infectious lead pattern not only has the breathy, horn-like character that's so popular at the moment, but also has a smart rhythm that plays off against the syncopated bass ostinatos and metallic percussion underneath. Add a whip-tight snare and the kind of journeying lead modulation that rises, falls, and disappears, and you've got a tough, complex monster. For my money, it deserves to be caned just as much as "Elephants."
TracklistA1 Clouds
A2 Woody
B1 Chestnut
B2 Chall