Hugo and Daniele Papini: Nice To Meet You
Systematic Recordings

Serge Santiágo: Atto D'Amore
Arcobaleno Records

The fiftieth release on Marc Romboy's four-year-old Systematic label is given over to a three-cut EP (500 limited picture discs) by Italian producers Hugo (Tuning Spork) and Daniele Papini (Alchemy). The percolating pop and swing of “Arduer” sprinkles its jaunty techno pulse with squiggly synths and hallucinatory vocal shredding (that resembles the sound of someone talking underwater) but the clubby house burner “Physical” trumps it with a rolling bass line that's as massive as a steamroller. Mobilized by a stark but steamy minimal thrust, “Softuer” proves to be an equally seductive complement to the other two in its marriage of buoyant groove and poppy breeziness.

Serge Santiágo inaugurates his own Arcobaleno Records imprint with a single-sided 12-inch completely given over to a singular Italo-electro anthem titled “Atto D'Amore.” The cut storms out of the gate with a snappy rumble and never lets up for a delirious fifteen minutes. Over the tumultuous roar of the beats, a brooding theme surfaces which Santiágo stretches out into swirling electro patterns before the pile-driving thump of the beats stokes the charge all over again. Following that episode, radiant synth melodies build into a multi-layered colossus that eventually liquefies across both channels until the rumble returns for one final, pummeling go-round. The tribal-house swing of “Atto D'Amore” is so massive, any conceivable B-side would only sound anti-climactic.

February 2009