Last year, new DFA artist Larry Gus (Panagiotis Melidis) released and gave away his first full length album “Silent Congas“ as a free download.
A trippy, sample-based beat record, it was a response and love letter to the MPC God J Dilla and artists like Koushik and Caribou. A solid DFA debut, it actually sits quite well in the mix with all those artists.
Recently, DFA’s just released a pair of excellent dancefloor ready remixes of tracks off that record by Hana and Hello Skinny. The Hana Remix of Figueroa Islands is a particularly dizzying chugger.
Admittedly obsessed, I’ve been playing it everywhere and on the show for the past few weeks. The menacing arpeggiated motorik coldwave synths, steady bass drum thump, 808 kink and acid lines are perfectly balanced until they start decaying at the end…at which point they become REALLY perfect. INTOIT. SO INTOIT.
Larry Gus – Figueroa Islands (Hana Remix) by DFA Records
Although a bit more discoball in tone than his LPs, these remixes are a fine precursor to Gus’ new full length, “Years Not Living“, available later this summer. Continuing to build on the psychedelic beat sound of Congas, recorded deep in the midst of the Greek financial crisis and inspired by Georges Perec’s 1978 book Life: A Users Manual and Lucio Battisti’s 1974 album Anima Latina, Larry Gus recorded upwards of 80 tracks for this album. The whole thing was then filmed for a forthcoming documentary on Larry Gus and his process.
If it all sounds rather heady, it is. But not in some clinical, bookish way. This is good heady, like laughing while listening to Buhloone Mindstate, watching the Monkees’ HEAD or spinning in circles in a field of dandelions.