Londoner John Monkman has an impressive musical CV, having worked with legends like Pete Tong and Brian Ferry in the past. His Anjunadeep debut, "Open Frontier" follows acclaimed releases on Get Physical and Suara and features gorgeous vocals from long-time collaborator Liz Cass.
Full of atmosphere, "Open Frontier" is a deceptively languid affair, with Liz's effortless vocals drifting above a beautiful chugging groove packed full of heady, melancholic melodies. Assured vocoder work adds a leftfield touch, whilst the sparingly used low-end packs a real punch.
Bristolian up-and-comers Behling & Simpson have been on our radar for some time, with some cracking releases on Futureboogie, Exploited and 2020 Vision catching our attention. They deliver two killer mixes of John's original, a sprawling, almost epic 'Deep Mix' and a 'Club Dub, that ups the energy whist maintaining the trippy vibe captured in the deeper version.
Dimitri Kechagias review: Anjunadeep can't go wrong. The top house label brings only jewels and fantastic music by very talented artists like John Monkman. His emotional deep house meets electronica track Open Frontier features the incredible Liz Cass vocals that sound truly mesmerising and will attract your attention straight away. Melodic laid back relaxing and soothing deep basslines, chunky techy grooves combined with great percussive elements, emotional electronic melodies and blissful cinematic atmosphere is the perfect soundscape for Liz to sing the inspirational lyrics that will touch you deep straight away. It's one of those tracks that you love or hate on first listening like love on first sight. The package is supported by Behling & Simpson who deliver not only one but two great remixes to extend your pleasure of the track even more. The Club dub remix as you can imagine is a magnificent moody hypnotic late night production with brooding bassline, tribal techy grooves and industrial themes combined with nice colourful melodies delivering that lonely isolated distanced atmosphere. The Deep mix is another excellent example of high class deep sound textures. Calming, cooling, relaxing version with laid back abstract groove with great tribal percussion, melancholic sad melodies and great application of the vocals with strong echo effects that make them sound out of this world and very spacey as well! Both remixes recall the sound of top chill out compilations like the legendary Cafe del Mar. #PureGold Love iT
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