Just in time to conclude a bittersweet summer (at least in Berlin), Retreat brings the heat with a soulful EP from one of his founders, hotshot producer Quarion.
As the name implies, Dusty Fingers sees the beatmaker return to his Hip-Hop roots and dig in the crates for a sample-based deep & dirty 3 tracker!
Turn Off The Light is a tribute to mid-nineties House Garage classics, when the drums were « phat » and the basslines heavy: a distant breakbeat introduces a rhodes loop before the elements combine into a powerful groove.
The beat stops while beautiful chords and hair-raising strings evolve from the background and it’s then time for the bouncy bassline to kick in. The track keeps rolling as whispers begging you to Turn Off The Light get more present but the song soon drops into an emotional break complete with soulful vocals and extra instrumentation. When the beat comes back in, you know the track has Classic written all over it.
Seems Like … starts with a heavy 808 pattern and phased drone that later evolves into a string section. The beat is locked down with the introduction of a percussion riff and jumping bassline while you’re taken on a deep excursion as nautilus-style keys and moody vocals bring you underwater. The flashing hi-hats keep the whole song moving and you’re soon left with only the groove to keep you company. The keys sneak in from the background and you’re taken once more on an underwater journey before the beat brings you safely to the shore…
After the deep sea, Going Away takes you in outer space as a skipping rhodes lick plays with bruk-style drums that are straight out the MPC. A P-Funk bassline nails the groove as cosmic mermaids sing about Going Away and analog synth melodies lift the whole track into the stratosphere…
Quarion was last seen circling around Venus and we hope he won’t be gone too long because we need more EP’s like this one!
A1 – Turn Off The Light
B1 – Seems Like…
B2 – Going Away
Release: August 26th 2009
(RTR03_releasesheet)
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