ALWAYS EVERYTHING

OMAR-S // HERE’S YOUR TRANCE NOW DANCE

James offers his thoughts on the latest 12” from Detroit house maestro Omar-S, released on FXHE.

Well I couldn’t have put it better myself Omar: ‘Here’s Your Trance Now Dance’. It’s the first 12” from FXHE for 2011 and the title says it all. Omar-S does his thing with another slab of raw, vibey techno. He’s let loose another slightly electro infused number, not unlike a happy-go-lucky cousin of the pretty sublime ‘Solely Supported’ from late last year. It’s looser, it’s less ashamed to reach grin inducing heights. It’s not as intense and doesn’t brood; in fact this has to be the most epic, uplifting Omar-S track since ‘Strider’s World’ or the moodier ‘Psychotic Photosynthesis’. It’s almost like a mid-point between the two. We’ve got plenty of bleeps and that uplifting energy, but it doesn’t have the menace, those low down urgent chords and beats that move the track along against those Game Boy melodies. It has that hypnotic edge though, just like ‘Psychotic Photosynthesis’.

It’s pure Detroit: the melodies and sound palette reek of techno’s past, but Omar-S brings it all alive with a keen ear and bright synth lines. The key has to be the loose tribal percussion though, drawing it all together. An irresistible bongo loop sets it all off, raw bumping kicks punch at the floor and claps splash with intent, with a crisp halfstepping joyous burst that swings against tight threadbare strings. That’s what does it. But it keeps on… Bubbling arpeggio basslines play off its strings of life, like a modern take on the vibes E-Dancer’s remix of Octave One’s ‘Blackwater’ give off, but minus the seeping Reece tones and diva - a more restrained ‘Night of the Jaguar’, or closer still, a cheeky shapeshifting play on Derrick May’s ‘R-Theme’. It’s almost cheesy and a tad cliché in its execution, but it doesn’t matter much, there’s an underlying melancholic energy that keeps drawing you back in. In the mix it’s deadly and pretty moving, with its honest heart on-its-sleeve dancefloor motion it touches on something… Something breezy…

Midi horns, sharp pressured synth strings and a structure that teases. Beats drop out leaving nowt but strings, synths fall back and let beats take over, hi-hats skit and shake with urgent energy while tablas bounce beneath. Melody builds. Bass lines get the hips moving, with a raw driving funk. What more do you want!? ‘Here’s Your Trance Now Dance’.

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James