- In listening to the free mixes that 360 produced nearly each month in 2009, it became clear that both Nuno Dos Santos and Patrice Bäumel didn't quite belong in the prevailing Dutch scene that has been so celebrated of late. Vocals abounded, melodies celebrated and, in one memorable mix, almost the entirety of Richard Linklater's Tape provided a bed for esoteric fare. Needless to say, 2000 and One wasn't knocking down their door for the next Remote Area 12-inch.
Joris Voorn and Edwin Oosterwal did, though, and the results somehow make sense for both parties. Dos Santos and Bäumel's knack for the hook is obvious with both tracks employing a revolving melody that is reminiscent of something you've heard a few hundred times before. But like Voorn and Oosterwal's own work as Rejected, 360 take the obvious and embellish it effortlessly, secure in the knowledge that sometimes less is indeed more.
"Neon One" is the looser of the two, almost arrogant in how comfortable it sounds, while "Two" tightens the screws and gets funkier. The deeper bass hit signals that things are different from the off, but it's the clattering percussion that arrives in the second-half that seals it. Still effortless, it throws just enough of a wrench into the proceedings to remind the listener that it's possible sometimes to embrace both Tape and Sasha vs. Ray LaMontagne.
Tracklist A Neon One
B Neon Two