review: mr beatnick – savannah ep

The Savannah EP – The third and final part of Mr Beatnick’s exploration into house and techno territory on Don’t Be Afraid, drops in early April. Having laid the ground with the excellent, critically acclaimed first two Ep’s, (Synthetes and Sun Goddess) Mr Beatnick continues his rich vein of form here. Across the four tracks he dips into influences from all over the spectrum – classic Hardcore on Parallax Scroll, Detroit House on Symbiosis, early 80s Italian proto-techno (!?) on title track Savannah. All four tracks on the EP are quality, the stand out for me is Symbiosis – mainly because the sound palette is right up my street, but I couldn’t find fault in any of the tracks.

There’s a chunky feel throughout – it’s been said before that Beatnick brings a hip hop sensibility to house music and, whereas that is nothing new – Moodymann et al have been doing it for years – he does put his own particular spin on it and the result is dance music that feels very British, while maintaining roots in the cream of US dance music history.  We need more music like this – idiosyncratic, well crafted and, most crucially of all, soulful. Bravo.

The Savannah EP is out on Don’t Be Afraid  on 8th April.

The launch party takes place on Thursday 28th March, check the fb event for further info/tickets.