Argy: Focus on Argy
Poker Flat
Adultnapper: Audiomatique 2.0
Audiomatique
Born in Rhodes in the mid-eighties, Greek producer Argy makes a very strong impression with his debut Poker Flat full-length, a steamy and feverish set of originals, remixes (Jerome Sydenham, Ryo Murakami), and collaborations (Sydenham, The Mole, DJ Gregory, Solomun) that the producer weaves into a grooving, non-stop mix. Having previously issued tracks on labels like Cocoon, Raum, and Poker Flat (which issued his breakout Love Dose EP in 2005), Argy blends house, minimal, funk, and techno into clubby peak-time ravers that drive and pump. His makeover of Jerome Sydenham's “Ebian” gets the set moving with tight techno rumble and metronomic swing, after which a potent, almost African tribal feel boosts swinging cuts like “The Storm” and “In the Mist.” “Love Dose” mixes acid into its pulsating groove, the DJ Gregory collab “Our Drums” burns its tribal tech-house even more ferociously, and Argy's collaboration with The Mole, “Cantstandlovegetaway,” is as dizzying as The Mole's own debut full-length As High As The Sky (Wagon Repair). On the remix front, Argy gives Ryo Murakami's “Down The Sky” a re-rub that's equally dubbed-out and locomotive, while Sydenham turns Argy's own “1985” into a delirium-inducing raver. There's no pit stops along the way: the release is full-on club music whose funky tech-house Argy powers with driving rhythms and roiling bass lines.
Brooklynite Adultnapper (tech-house producer Francis Harris) grabs the reins for the second compilation on Steve Bug's Audiomatique imprint. Whereas Argy's release largely focuses on his own music, Audiomatique 2.0 weaves a smattering of Adultnapper cuts into a sixteen-track mix featuring material by Trentemøller, Martinez , Alexi Delano, Robert Babicz, and others. It's no surprise the mix opens strongly when it's Pole's funky remix of Trentemøller “Miss You” leading the charge, after which a haunting keyboard melody segues seamlessly into Gui Boratto and Martin Eyerer's “The Beach.” The two impress again when the melodic sheen of “The Island” comes into view a dozen cuts later, as does Joris Voorn with his chugging trance makeover of Babicz's “Dark Flower.” Adultnapper's own tracks stand out too: “Oedipa E” shuffles merrily, indifferent to the snippety percussion treatments that surround it, Gaiser's “Found Guilty” remix of “Juror No. 9” stokes a funky jack that's hard to ignore, and “Madeleine” threads sitar-like tones into its tumbling groove. A more-than-solid mix of club bangers and slightly woozier techno grooves.August 2008