VA: Late Night Chronicles
Soiree Records International

We've pretty much loved everything we've heard to date from the Soiree imprint, and Late Night Chronicles is no exception. In keeping with the release's after-hours title, it's a slightly less frenetic affair than some of the previous EPs we've heard from the label, though that doesn't make its four tracks any less appealing.

Drivetrain's “Peppermint Kisses” establishes the EP's late-night vibe in its snappy swing and electric piano shadings and especially in the sensual vocal Diamondancer (“I love peppermint kisses…”) drapes over Drivetrain's radiant base. Punctuated by synth blips and a wiry Moog-like figure, the track moves into progressively sexier territory as the vocal utterances grow ever more suggestive and the listener begins to feel less like a listener and more like a voyeur. Deep house is the order of the day in the luscious overhaul Nate Mattimoe and Todd Perrine give to Cloudmasterweed's “Sunny.” The remixers' blend of soulful grooves, warm keys, and acoustic percussion is, in a word, irresistible as well as a classic example of timeless house music. Blackjack's “Triaxial,” on the other hand, is definitely one for the night-time, as shown when its seven minutes of jacking house gleam effortlessly glides through the city with a jaguar-like stealth, while Professor Inc's “Quindrant Dub” pushes things in an entirely different direction by taking us out of the nightclub and into an echoplex chamber where bass lines thunder menacingly and dub washes swirl dizzyingly. Without pushing the narrative too far, one can hear the EP's contents as suggestive of a single night's journey through various nightscapes.

November 2011