Grown out of a monthly basement party thrown in Glasgow around 2008 and initially guided into fruition with the helpful advice from Arne Weinberg after his move to the city, Tabernacle Records has become somewhat of a record collector’s delight since its debut release in 2010. Headed up by Joel Shaw and Andrew Ingram, they’ve firmly established that they’re capable of smoothly migrating from successful club night into fully fledged label. Whilst the road from club night to label has been a heavily recurring one in recent times, the combination of old-fashioned A&R and a strong sense of development in the relationship with their artists has meant that quality has remained at at a familiar high throughout their 31-record deep discography. While quite a number of their early releases were gained from focusing on artists who played at their early parties such as The Third Man, John Heckle, and Mark Du Mosch, their roster has since expanded into hosting regular material from Fancy & Spook, Jeremiah R and the enigmatic Lost Trax. We also can’t help but have a special place in our hearts for Tabernacle seeing as they’ve also quietly been flying the flag still for online music blogs in the form of Slabs Of The Tabernacle, sporadically posting links to a series of brilliant mixes from affiliates and fellow inspirations of the label and party.
The track in particular we want to talk about today from the Tabernacle fold has made its way around over the years; popping up every now and then in sets to floor-filling reactions, but it’s been a small while since we’ve heard it out and we’re firm believers that if you’re a house or techno DJ then this record should never leave your bag. The original from Trackmasta Lou — a close affiliate to Underground Resistance and primary member of Detroit collective Scan 7 — uses a repeated string sample for a slow uplifting house cut that’s perfect for those warm-up slots, but full marks go to John Heckle who smashed it out the park with his ‘re-animaion’ of the track. Stripping away the uplifting bassline and essence of the original, Heckle keeps in the string sample but reworks it with the most jacking influenced percussion. The 707 claps sound truly gorgeous and the whole track is an addictive bomb for its six-minute duration. Discogs user ‘MrElReplicante’ says it’s a track that will stay with him forever and despite not being the biggest of secrets, we wholeheartedly agree.
