- Bob Bhamra's West Norwood Cassette Library has a knack for mincing classic house with bass futurism. The trend continues with WNCL's "Get Lifted," the most jacking, Chicago-indebted track Bhamra's put out yet. "Get Lifted" is unabashedly straightforward but packs a hefty wallop missing from the other pallid attempts at straight-up house by many of his UK cohorts, and it's still full of all the fussy details and clipped samples that make his music as compatible with weirdo producers like Milyoo as Mr. Fingers. Even better, there's a particularly nasty electrified 303, which finds its own subtle place in the track rather than flooding it with gimmicky squelch.
The single is just as notable for the remix on its flipside, marking the formal debut of the new collaborative project between Pariah and Blawan, Karenn. While the alias is touted as a techno project, that's too reductive: the duo turn the track into a lumbering, smoky monster. If it's techno, it's techno done with Blawan's explosive, maximalist percussion. The rework flips the mood completely, dread sirens looming over the horizon and slicing through the fog—it's unique and certainly not a bad way to kick off a new project.
Tracklist A Get Lifted
B Get Lifted (Karenn Remix)