- From the old guard of Moodymann and Theo Parrish to more contemporary guys like Red Rack'em and Anthony Naples, there's plenty of sample-heavy house on the market. But these days, when you've got a computer at your disposal instead of just an MPC—and thus have infinitely many more than 12 or 16 pads to wail on, if you'd like—how do you know when you've hit your limit? I'm not saying Belarusian newcomer Schmoltz uniformly goes overboard on the Novy Svet EP for Czech upstarts Visky—there are plenty of enjoyable moments herein—but he sure packs in the sounds on these tracks.
Schmoltz doesn't give us party music so much as music that sounds like a particularly raucous house party, one where you occasionally have to shout to be heard. Opener "Ghettup" is actually pretty elegantly arranged—laid-back hi-hats softened further by subtle hand drums, a David Axelrod-style orchestral loop and what's got to be a tastefully processed James Brown—but the sound is dense nevertheless, its elements pumped and squeezed so that everything gets top billing in the mix. "T.w.s.d." is the collection's only unabashed mess, a veritable sound collage of snips from six too many crackly 45s. "Raindrops" find Schmoltz paring things down a bit sonically (and even leaving room for an easter egg or two, like those awesomely asymmetrical bongo hits mixed in with the drum kit), but the track runs a bit long; Scott Ferguson's remix, the most pounding cut on the EP, keeps things more interesting, but its out-of-tune strings and proudly unquantized drumming may leave you a little seasick.
Tracklist 01. Ghettup
02. T.w.s.d.
03. Raindrops
04. Raindrops (Scott Ferguson Remix)