Koreless, one of Pictures Music’s poster children, hooked us on his vowel concentrated samples and relatively beatless tracks from day one. His music immediately creates a dense and almost meditative environment yet it’s absolutely club music. After making a splash in early 2011 with his 12” debut “4D” he stepped out of the spotlight, only releasing a couple of choice remixes and stocking a select few DJs with unreleased tracks. One of these was the sensual “Lost In Tokyo”, which amassed over 90,000 views on YouTube and mind you, only fifty seconds of the song plays uninterrupted. A few weeks ago, recent collaborator Jacques Greene, announced it would be released via his Vase imprint and backed by a remix from him; corners all over the internet lit up at the prospect of the two teaming up again as their track on the Greene’s “Concealer” EP, “Arrow” was one of its highlights.
For those who have heard the many clips of “Lost In Tokyo”, the full length isn’t much different. As with a lot of his previous work, there aren’t any sudden or irrational changes that occur in the dynamics of the soundscape. Instead, on this track he captures you with a hypnotic female voice and bursts of reverb. Anywhere this is played, the tension is bound to be palpable and manifest itself in a calm before the storm fashion. Unsurprisingly, that storm never comes. Instead he finishes the track out on the same note he began it with no kicks, no hats: just vocals and space. As few people create environments on this level and commanding your attention the track would have the most uninformed listener wondering – what is this? If the original wasn’t enough, Jacques Greene gives it a kick, literally. It could easily be mistaken for a part two of the original as it picks off exactly where it left off but Greene gives it a pinch of his polyrhythmic touch before diving off into a more traditional beat. Talking about taking it up notch, Greene spreads out the atmospheric elements Koreless perfected and wraps them up in the club thud he does so well. The entire combination makes sense: Koreless has proven he’s one of the craftiest vocal manipulators in recent years and Jacques Greene’s bread & butter is cemented around tunes that have hypnotic, sing-a-longish vocals. This is round two of a match made in heaven.
Stream: Koreless – Lost In Tokyo (Preview) (Vase)
The fact that this track has finally seen the light of day is great news and hopefully signals more new material from him. Koreless is one of the few young producers who seem to have a handle on their music in terms of quality versus quantity and we respect that. If he extended the length of “Lost In Tokyo” as well as his other tracks by five, ten, or fifteen minutes we’d be even happier.
Koreless’s Lost In Tokyo is available now on Vase.
