Recommended: Andrés – Second Time Around

Since the winter chill has descended upon us, we’ve been searching for the right thing to warm us up. Sometimes that warmth comes in the form of a hot cup of cocoa and crackling fire, other times it’s hi-hats and string samples. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ve probably heard Andrés’ “New For U.” It’s been a mainstay on the Hessle Audio and Numbers Rinse FM shows and its smooth chords and down-tempo house beat are infectious. A former DJ for Slum Village (as DJ Dez), Andrés has a long and storied history as a member of the Detroit hip-hop scene. Andrés has proved adept at producing everything from house to downtempo to boogie.  He recently started his La Vida record label earlier in the year to unearth some of his lost masterpieces.

As Andrés says,  Andrés shall do. His follow up, “Second Time Around”, has been out for about two months now and has been on repeat the whole time here at Truants HQ. The A-side features a completely new production, “Skate This Way.” Hovering right around 120 BPM, the track fits right alongside “New For U” with an opening kick drum and hi-hat make you move, but warm strings after about 30 seconds really pull you in. The flip side sees Andrés doing exactly what he said his record label would do – breathing life into underappreciated classics. “Second Time Around” and “Hart Plaza” were originally released without names in 2001 on Detroit’s KDJ records. These 2012, updated versions see a bit more polish and feature keys from Andrés’ Mahogani music counterpart, Amp Dog Knight. Both tracks still sound fresh as ever and Andrés even added a little bit of Detroit trivia for us, naming “Hart Plaza” after a park on the motor city waterfront.


Stream: Andrés – Skate This Way (La Vida)

Tim Willis

In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country, twitter @timwill_is, personal: timwill.is