Cavalier - Ride 'Em EP

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  • And so the deep house beat goes on, this time with yet another Agnès guise—his 672nd at last count—turning in the goods for the Zürich-based Drumpoet Community. If you want to lay the blame for the genre's resurgence at anyone's feet, Agnès is one of the likeliest suspects. As label head of Sthlmaudio Recordings and a sometime Slowhouser, the man has been relentlessly decreasing the tempo and adding tasteful vocal samples to house music for the past number of years. As with any genre, there's some good and there's some bad. Both can be found on Ride 'Em. "The Beat" begins things typically with the one-handed organ line and a "ooo ooooooo" sample that's soon joined by shorter cut-up voices that accent the proceedings. It's Deep House ca. 2008 101 and a snoozefest for its six-and-a-half minutes. Luckily, it's followed up by the smoother and less busy "Deep Rider," which is as equally as shameless in its formalism, but somehow comes out smelling as fresh as a daisy. It's hard to explain why one works and the other doesn't, but it may have something to do with "Deep Rider"'s minimalism: With so few elements at play, Agnès simply rides them into the sunset of the A-side of the vinyl instead of forcing them into a track that doesn't need anything else. The same goes for the flip's "I Know," which increases the tempo, but doesn't bother with cluttering things up. It's self-assured and light—a mid-morning track for the rising sun. Meanwhile, aptly titled closer "Last" sounds like a drugged version of Azuni's "Miss Brown," but don't hold that against Agnès. Azuni—a shadowy duo that just released their debut on Sthlmaudio—is probably just another pseudonym for the producer anyway. The tracks on that album and Ride 'Em sure don't sound like there was much effort put into them. Then again, when deep house is good, that's exactly the point.
  • Tracklist
      A1 The Beat A2 Deep Rider B1 I Know B2 Last
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