Suche:villete

Villete aka Amsterdam based producer Anne Korteweg returns to Scissor and Thread with a brilliant new EP. Her debut 12″ ‘Girl Next Door’ was released on Scissor and Thread in the fall of 2016 and sold out quickly. Now here with the new EP Dawn is Mine, we are treated to seven tracks of understated, floating beauty. On her new release she explores the more abstract sides of electronic music. Using a variety of synthesizers, she creates rich and lush sounding structures that continuously bend and flow loosely. She finds inspiration from listening to Pauline Anna Strom, Takashi Kokubo and Actress. Opener Penrose Stairs sets the tone with gentle arpeggiated synths creating a warm, fuzzy atmosphere - a combination further explored in Midnight Arp later into the mini-album. The title track Dawn Is Mine uncovers a low bass throb mixed with dubbed out effects and textures, while Lilac emits an ethereal, woozy atmosphere, with lush pads, choral textures and blissful melodic motifs. Myst also luxuriates in hazy pads before a slo-mo groove emerges to carry the track towards the edge of the dancefloor. If Myst flirts with the idea of dancing, Show Me dives right in - an exquisite slice of deep, outsider house with a psychedelic twist. Winding the release down with Wild Things - a beat-less vignette of synths engaged in an melodic interplay of chimes and tones.

On Scissor and Thread's fourth release of 2016, newcomer Villete takes a turn in the spotlight on their deep house stunner, 'Girl Next Door'. The A-side opens with the swelling pads and earnest hi-hat of Dreams". A distant voice declares everyone is devoted to their emotion, it's me and my imagination' before a springy bass line drops in, ushering in the mantra never be afraid to dream". A brassy synth further envelops the listener into the track's warm embrace as layers of percussion skitter in and out of focus. September' takes a turn for the cerebral with its' skipping hi-hats and airy pads. A springy bass line is accompanied by celestial synths that envelop the senses, making this psychedelic cut primed for after hours devastation. Villete goes even more cerebral on their introspective title cut, dialing back on the BPM, but keeping the energy high. A hushed bass and thudding kick take the backseat, allowing the hypnotizing, submerged pads and swirling, reverbed synths to take center stage, transporting dancers into eye-closed euphoria. The EP closes with the murky drum tones of Rillia". Droning pads, delicate claps, and a shy, skittering shaker keep things bubbling and light above the track's thicker than molasses kicks. Deep house maestro Darand Land takes his turn on the aforementioned track, lifting it out of the murk and straight up to the heavens and drenching it in his sun-kissed, euphoric style.

More about the world has changed than not in the decade since dance production dyad Frank & Tony released their last full-length record, 2014’s You Go Girl. Despite, or perhaps in spite of, this shifting landscape, house music has managed to stay fundamentally reliable (either a bug or its greatest feature, depending on who you ask). Where previously, Frank & Tony have been celebrated for their contemplative, studious approach to the genre, with 2024’s Ethos, the Brooklyn/Biarritz-based duo return amidst metastatic cultural upheaval to prove out those scholarly credentials — with an album that serves to remind listeners why dancefloors and liberatory politics consistently share the language of movements and revolutions.
Undoubtedly, Ethos is tremendously influenced by the multitude of projects originating from, and supported by, the duo and their label in the decade since You Go Girl– releasing records from a vast diversity of artists (including Nadia Khan, Gry, Villete, Darand Land, Alex Albrecht, DJ Sprinkles and CCL), and Harris becoming curatorial voice of Brooklyn’s premiere venue for audiophiles, Public Records, where he continues to amplify work across a global diaspora (and where the duo maintain a residency of wide praise).

It is this bright energy and focus on the necessity of community and relationships that animates the aptly-titled Ethos. If past Frank & Tony releases have been lauded as ‘a coloring book in which someone has exclusively drawn inside the lines… with extreme precision,’ Ethos deviates by inviting friends in for a game of exquisite corpse. From singer and pianist Eliana Glass, whose androgynous, double-reeded voice freestyles across album opener Olympia, to distinct track features from fellow house masterminds DaRand Land, DJ Aakmael and Lawrence over half of the album’s nine tracks highlight artists in the larger Scissor & Thread circle.