Clairaudience and Anthony Nicholson go together like Lennon and McCartney, and so it’s only appropriate that the resurrection of the label should be led by the legendary Chicago producer. The Suckapunch EP is Clairaudience’s first new release in 10 years – almost 19 years after the label’s earliest offerings, including USG’s Ncameu and African Blues’ Word Sound Power, heralded Nicholson as a force to be reckoned with in the world of soulful and sophisticated house music. The two new tracks that make up the Suckapunch EP find Nicholson in vintage form, still innovating powerful dance music for conscious heads and, indeed, pulling no punches. The title track is built around a distinctively Nicholsonian groove, bassy, deep and subtly tribal. A sinuous keyboard riff provides a hypnotic hook in the middle, while dramatic strings, guttural vocal stabs and spacey effects drift in and out of the mix. It’s a lush, mesmerizing 4/4 workout with an organic texture, the kind of track that helplessly draws dancers out of the shadows and onto the floor to stay. “Turn Me” is marked by a repeating refrain in which a female vocalist whispers “Turn me on,” and it does just that. A sexy, moody afterhours jam featuring a rubbery bassline rubbing up against smoldering percussion and luscious keyboards, it’s bound to get dancers hot under the collar. Taken together, the Suckapunch EP is an essential release that will hit the sweet spot for old fans of the artist while it makes new ones. The tag team of Nicholson and Clairaudience have unleashed a potent one-two punch that’ll go straight to your head and may cause you to move your body uncontrollably.
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