Various – Gasoline

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  • It started life as a collective of like-minded Latin American producers, but Cómeme is now a global endeavour. As this double-vinyl collection ably demonstrates, it is a tribe united not by geography but by a distinctive fondness for swing, muscular percussion, heavyweight analogue synth sounds and an irreverent disregard for convention. Given Matias Aguayo's lead role in conceiving and organising Cómeme, it's not surprising that a lot of the label's output embodies the ideology implicit in his 2008 classic, "Minimal." Streamlined 4/4 rhythms are notably absent, as are any surgical, digitised sounds. Instead, the Cómeme aesthetic is dirty, sexy and unhinged. There are volleys of congas, toms, claps and cowbells (particularly on Christian S and Brian Kessler's "Nebel Dance"), that don't invite you to dance so much as physically hustle you onto the dance floor. These come overlaid with bass-heavy, fizzling and squealing electronics that seem to reach back through early Italo disco and krautrock to the sinister sounds of synth pioneers such as Bruce Haack and Delia Derbyshire. There are a number of different accents here, of course—pumping electro in Ana Helder's case, tripped out house music on Djs Pareja's "Si Señor," the goofy rave siren of Auntie Flo's "Jas"—but this collection is heavy voodoo disco throughout. If Aguayo and co. are about anything, it's questioning norms, including their own, and two of the strongest tracks here are the least representative of Cómeme. Vaskular's "Black Jesus" is a muggy, dubby slice of deep house that could have been an early Wolf + Lamb release. Its carnival rhythms are an obvious fit for the label, but the effervescent two-step of Voxels' "K-Hauz" is a real curveball. As serotonin-soaked as "Hyph Mngo," as dreamy and delicate as Jamie xx's "Far Nearer," as catchy as "Kernkraft 400," it's a break-out hit waiting to happen. If it does take off, it will be, in its own way, a very Cómeme phenomenon. After all, defying expectation is what they do.
  • Tracklist
      01. Auntie Flo - Jas 02. Christian S. & Bryan Kessler – Nebel Dance 03. Ana Helder - Gasoline 04. Vaskular feat. Valesuchi - Black Jesus 05. Djs Pareja & Alejandro Paz - Cógeme 06. Zombies in Miami - El Rito 07. Rous - A Bailar (Carisma Remix) 08. Voxels - K-Hauz 09. Djs Pareja - Si Señor
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