Bytz: Amfuem
Nightlight Music

There's precious little info about Bytz available but no matter, this fine three-tracker on Nightlight Music, a San Francisco imprint managed by tech-house producer Alland Byallo, says more than enough all by itself (though it is a tad unusual that Bytz's “Amfuem” original mix appears after the remixes). With all due respect to the host, his guest's opener makes the biggest splash as Fine Cut Bodies throws spellbinding boomerangs of swizzle-stick crackles, clacks, and blips over an infectiously jacking base in the first of two overhauls. Franklin De Costa's more spectral take slithers through the shadows much less hurriedly though it too eventually works itself up to a cruising jack; come the halfway mark, the piece is standing erectly at attention and scheming with Italo compadres in a back-room smoking parlour. Bytz's “Amfuem” original is so radically different in character from the others one struggles to connect them. Though techno elements surface alongside the swoop of gypsy-tinged violin swooping, a woman's echoing murmurs, and the pitter-patter of electronic raindrops, the song is more a dreamy mood piece Bytz tinges with a dash of Eastern curry. If Amfuem is any indication, 2006 should be a promising year indeed for Nightlight with music apparently on its way from Pheek, Dapayk, and more.

January 2006