- Like her DJ sets, Paramida's debut EP is full of feels.
- If you've never heard Paramida DJ, listening to the B-side from her debut EP, Dream Ritual, gives you a pretty good sense of what to expect. "French House 2000" is like listening to a full set from the Panorama Bar resident in one song. At 130 BPM, it's got a bit of mid-'90s pep, and the chord progression that wiggles across the rolling drums only just land on the right side of melodramatic. Paramida has made it no secret that she doesn't mind playing music bordering on the cheesy (her label Love On The Rocks is named after this track) and "French House 2000" leans into that aesthetic for a proper helping of timeless dance floor euphoria. This is the MO for the whole EP.
The title track doesn't quite reach the dopamine release of "French House 2000," but it still finds that sweet spot between propulsive drive and emotional delicacy. On their remix, Eris Drew & Octo Octa keep some of the original's fanciful energy while wrangling it into something more corporeal, with a tough bassline and ferocious acid lead, like something you'd hear at No Way Back. Youandewan, on the other hand, uses his analog magic to turn "French House 2000" into a tech house groover with the occasional bloom of bright pads.
"There was a turning point when I realized that no one is actually making the music I would like to put out," Paramida said in a recent interview. Fair enough. Love On The Rocks has been responsible for some of the best trance and progressive-influenced house of the past decade (just try and not get chills listening to Fantastic Man's "Dream Machine (Utopia Mix)"), and now she's making it on her own. Both tracks here are up there with the best of the label's back catalogue, ready for the next time she needs to open Panorama Bar's shutters with an anthem.
Tracklist01. Dream Ritual
02. Dream Ritual (Eris Drew & Octo Octa's Alchemical Sisters Dub)
03. French House 2000
04. French House 2000 (Youandewan Remix)