Leeds/Nottingham duo Mak & Pasteman might be in their 20’s, but their musical influences stretch from the funk and soul of the 60/70’s, through Juan Atkins’ proto-techno, to soulful house, D n B’ and UK Garage. Which won’t surprise anyone listening to this, their debut EP for Shifting Peaks, a 4 track statement of intent that sounds like it couldn’t have been made any time but 2012, but also feels like 20 years of hardcore continuum is embedded deep in it’s musical DNA . EP opener ‘Do the Same’ works a looped up, garagey, energy fuelled vocal around a broken beat, pulsing bassline, and deep pad washes for a hypnotic, but floor friendly outing. ‘Lost’ takes off on a darker tangent, combining a hypno-synth riff with fat drums and buzzing dark-core bassline , before the disembodied vocal sample emerges from the shadows and the spacey breakdown punches back into the brooding body of the tune. Vinyl crackles meld with percussion, subtly orchestrated drama underpins the arrangement , and an atmospheric afterglow from rave’s distant past radiates throughout. On the remix front, Leeds hotshot Youandewan keeps the momentum he built up in 2011 going strong into 012, as he strips down ‘Lost’ into 6.30 mins of synapapse stroking, dubby house. It nods to (post ? ) funky, it probably has relations that fought in the dubstep wars, but in the end it’s deep, immersive house music. San Franciscan Lando Kal didn’t hang about last year either, with quality outings on Rush Hour, Numbers and Hotflush. Here he takes snatches of ‘Do The Same’s vocal and loops it over a rolling, grimey, Washing Machine style bassline and punchy 4/4’s for a brooding, floor friendly mix.

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