Recommended: Infamous Boogieman – Boogieman EP

While it’s unfortunate that we’ve had to wait four months for a new release from the Vancouver label ASL Singles Club, its founders Project Pablo and Heartbeat(s) made sure the wait was worth it. The label’s outstanding new EP resembles the quality to which we’ve held it since its inaugural single, but assembled with a rawer attitude. Perpetuating the quasi-less-is-more sonic ideology subscribed to by many marginal dance labels today, the self-titled debut from the Brooklyn-residing Infamous Boogieman (whose career as a producer is contrarily fledgling) marks the ninth release from ASL.

Not in any way out of the ordinary, the components that comprise Boogieman’s sound you can more often than not count on one hand, a stringy guitar solo emerging in the faint distance of “Revenge Tactics” is an exception not only here to Boogieman’s formula but probably to the majority of other producers’ you’ve listened to this week. Amid the modern funk context summoned for the opener—a sagging bass line, padded backdrops of pastel tones and deconstructing drums—the guitar is directionless but leads prominently. Emulating Dam-Funk with a broad stroke, he pulls “Tactics” off without a hitch. “Syetème” ensues, deep and lightly swung, the track on here most topically comparable to the more centered material of Boogieman’s new label mates. What materializes in the second half of the EP is the Brooklynite’s seeming propensity for the sort of “daydream” aesthetic promulgated by the cadre of producers releasing on cassette-focused outlets. Skimpily sheathed in an awing ambience and embellished with left-field sounds, a stumble of rounded kicks and deep toms allows the listener imagine the physical figure of “No Shoes” to be in a perpetual summersault—things get especially groovy when a syncopated trot-like percussion is introduced following a break midway through the six minuter. Sensibilities for mesmerism and groove get parlayed into “Boys Club”. Employing a scant melody, brittle hi hats and washes of fuzzy noise emanating from the depths of mix, the track is a final exhibition of how Boogieman is able to find common ground between form and function, from slung machine funk riders to worn techno. Your chair will constantly be swiveling through these four, but what you feel upstairs will depend on what type of scene exists through your window.

The Boogieman EP is out now; purchase here.

Michael Scala

Twitter. michael@truantsblog.com