Leon - Like This Like That

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  • I imagine, if ever there were such a thing, Cecille's sales pitch to its DJ customers would go something like this: "They won't necessarily ask you what the record is, but we guarantee it will keep them dancing." Surely no other label is as consistently adept at joining dots between the "choons" of any give house set as the Mannheim contingent. They've turned it into an esoteric art of their own—comparable to what Delusions of Grandeur have done for the warm-up jock—and on his first EP for their sublabel, Numbers, Italian producer, Leon, gets it pretty much down to a tee. He reminds us that "loopy" and "tracky" aren't necessarily pejorative terms—the fiercely compressed half-beat-hopping kicks that recur throughout "Like This Like That" are enough of a dance floor call-to-arms alone for the largely unwavering beats to be indulged. An industrial-sounding synth melody and thinly diced vocal samples issue just enough linear development to avoid it getting caught in the hamster wheel. "Cause I Love U" is for all intents and purposes even loopier, but its Chicago beat is carried by a cute little sample from First Choice's oft-plundered disco hit "Let No Man Put Asunder." They might not be the most memorable, but both tracks strike me as being utterly useful. "Black Now," is a little different. It's slower and with real emphasis on a build which begins its ascent to the apex at four minutes with the introduction of chord-gliding organ stabs. A voice in Portuguese repeats "I like it, what else?" and it's hard to disagree.
  • Tracklist
      A Like This Like That B1 Black Now B2 Cause I Love U
RA