Morning Factory: Forgotten Moments
Yore

Yore starts the new year off on the good foot with a four-tracker from Morning Factory that's remarkably accomplished for a first release. Expertly manning the controls are two gentlemen from The Netherlands, Jean-Pierre van der Leeuw and Jozef Lemmens (aka Loves Got Me High and Enzovoort) , who clearly worship at House music's altar. Taking inspiration from artists like Juan Atkins, Mr. Fingers, Carl Craig, The Orb, and 808 State, the duo produce a high-octane electronic body music that's timeless and fresh.

Replete with dropouts and epic pulsations, “Runners” sprints in with a mid-tempo house groove that pounds so mightily, “Steamrollers” might have been the better title choice. Morning Factory stokes serious heat in the eight-minute burner, and the sound is so full and rich the voices ecstatically wailing at the track's center can just barely be heard. Opting for a less raw and epic attack, “You Gave Up” is no less satisfying in its soulful breeziness. Chanting the title refrain, an uncredited female singer spreads her bountiful vocal gifts around while the boys polish a sleek funk-house backing to perfection. Shifting gears slightly, the B-side's fiery techno-funk banger “Raw Tunes” works a slinky disco pattern and aquatic dub chords into a frothy lather for seven semi-ecstatic minutes (hold on for the synth blaze that shoots the track to a higher level at the three-minute mark) while, at disc's end, the lights dim slightly for the graceful stepper “Someone” to take the EP out on a wave of radiant uplift. The material seems so effortlessly realized, it makes van der Leeuw and Lemmens sound like the oldest of hands.

February 2010