Bizarre Trax Releases First Vinyl Print, By Felon5
‘The Chronicles Of Mucky Trace’ is as charming and hot as it is inventively produced
‘The Chronicles Of Mucky Trace’ Cover
In the wide-ranging amount of good releases (needless to say one of the very few good things about the lockdowns of the last year is the amount of high quality releases popping up around), it’s still not often that I hear something that immediately makes my brain go “I want to hear this on the dancefloor” - this was the case of the first ever vinyl release by the Berlin/London label Bizarre Trax. In the last year, the project most notably helped with the fundraising to save CDV in the last year with this compilation. For its first record print they bring you four fresh tracks by Felon5 - a UK collective and resident of the label which counts releases on Lowmoneymusiclove and Luckison - with ‘The Chronicles Of Mucky Trace’ EP.
Listen to the tracks previews as you read:
But enough with the background information - the music of this release speaks loudly by itself. Starting from the A1 ‘Potters Pinball’ we are struck by its production, an enthralling and balanced mix of neat and essential rhythms combined with a layered composition of sounds. In its kind of maximised, minimal sound, a certain kind of hallucinatory texture in the synths decorates the groove, and as the vocal sample is placed just at the right time you will surely be locked in. The A2 ‘Passion For Fashion’ follows, with a similar but slightly less sprightly sound. What we love the most about this one is how it makes the listener’s attention shift from the vocal bits to the dubby delayed synths in the different phases of the track, while the driving bass doesn’t allow for your body to stop moving.
The b-side is equally interesting, keeping the energy levels high while providing major twists on each of the two tracks - the phasered and brimful synths of ‘Moovin' (Floating Deep Mix)’ cut into the neat rhythm sharp as a knife as its pounding rhythm is just hypnotising, while the essential and breakbeaty ‘198?’ gives finishes up the EP in flaming style with its irresistible cheeky play between the melody and bass.
As a whole, the various remarkable aspects such as the work on the vocal samples, the psychedelic touch to the synthesisers’ arrangements and the overall sound achieved through the mixing and mastering result in a timeless dancefloor record that sounds surprising and playful as it is solid. The press statement of the release refers to an unspoken summoning of a third ‘Summer of Love’ - we can only hope that music of this level will be its soundtrack.
