Aside from skimpy clothes, day drinking, and road trips to the beach, summer is the much anticipated season of music festivals. It’s also the season of the anthem, as producers gear up for extensive touring and playing for hundreds of thousands of eager fans. And even though we still have to make it through another month before officially celebrating the end of spring, we’ve already started filling up our crates (vinyl and digital) and iPods with anthemic summer jams that will surely fuel too many nights of sweaty, drunken debauchery. Finding a spot high on our list is “Fading Floor” from promising young London producer NKC, who debuted last year on Awkward Movements with the head-turning Marie / Ghettotechno white label and backed it up with the solid four-track Pyramid EP on Forefront Recordings. The producer returns to Awkward Movements for Fading Floor / Shockout and demonstrates a brazen production style that makes us want to drop everything and dance our asses off. Check out the supremely stylish promo video courtesy of Toby Knight (whose work you may recognize from the video for Mr. Beatnik’s “Sun Goddess”) and keep reading for our take on the release.
The title track is a brass-balled Funky hybrid, all syncopated snare patterns and punchy kicks that add some snapiness to your jackin’, or whinin’ as it may be, given all the tropical influences on this one. The production is lofted by a straightforward, triumphant melody a la Ill Blu or Lil Silva, seasoning it with a dash of Grime. Ultimately, though, this one is sustained by a wicked sub-bass presence that plays off of the lead perfectly and even steals the spotlight at times. London-based newcomer Raimo pares down the frenetic, Carnaval-esque energy and appeals more to the Ibiza crowd with an expanisve remix that boasts a darkly rolling tribal house groove and a pronounced lysergic influence. NKC continues to flex his sub-bass prowess on “Shockout,” delivering a dancefloor bomb that’s easily as potent as the A-side, although the lack of a prominent melody keeps it from reaching the same anthemic level. This one is backed by an absolutely bang-up remix from the prolific Zed Bias under his touted Maddslinky alias. Bias takes the background vocal sample from the original and constructs a crushing, uptempo 4/4 house production around it, accented by bitcrushed bass stabs and a percolating melodic pattern that keeps you hypnotized for the duration of the track. Every track on here is a winner, so be sure to cop this one before summer officially comes around!
NKC – Fading Floor / Shockout (Awkward Movement) is out now on vinyl and digital formats.
