High 5 - Sandrino
Romanian born Sandrino Tittel is a refined and versatile DJ and producer whose productions and sets have become a prominent feature on the electronic music landscape. With over two decades of presence in the scene, Sandrino meticulously crafts his output, drawing from an ample selector expertise from his early days as a resident DJ at Germany’s famed Butan Club. His DJ style requires a deep connection with his records, one that lets him join the dots throughout hours of music to create a fluid, mesmerising journey for the dance floor. On the production side of things, Sandrino propelled himself further into the club music consciousness as one half of the duo Frankey & Sandrino. With a string of pretty admirable releases on labels such as Innervisions, Kompakt Records, Drumpoet and Mule Musiq behind them, the twosome continues to draw attention both locally and abroad for their constantly evolving take on the house genre. Endowed with their own imprint ‘Sum Over Histories’ and a new wireless companion Erika - a typewriter that reveals the duo’s upcoming gigs on a regular basis – Frankey & Sandrino surely have many more musical tricks up their sleeve for us. One such highlight are five tracks featuring Kurt Baggaley, Pierre Bastien et Eddie Ladoire, Massimiliano Pagliara, Fantastic Twins and Skeletons that Sandrino most enjoyed playing during a recent all-nighter set:
Kurt Baggeley - Remembering Infinity [SoHaSo]
With a string of releases on various Electro and Techno labels under his legendary alias Scape One, British electro veteran Kurt Baggaley returns to the Dutch imprint ‘Something Happening Somewhere’ with kaleidoscopic electronic soundscapes. The title track ‘Remembering Infinity’ is a marvellously beautiful space travel bathed in sparkling arpeggiated notes and hazy pads that suffuse the track with brightness and warmth. Drifting between modular delicacy and shades of bubbling electronics, it conjures an otherworldly environment of eternal nightfall.
BUY THE TRACK
Pierre Bastien et Eddie Ladoire - Phantom Dance (Oceanic Garden Version)
French composer, visual artist and multi-instrumentalist Pierre Bastien releases delicate and unique music since the 1980’s. Bastien is known for building and employing a home-made orchestra constructed from meccano parts, single-mindedly devoted to making pretty unique music. He teamed up with esteemed electro-acoustic composer Freddie Ladoire in 2013 with the Parisian imprint ‘Versatile Records’ being the ideal platform for the concentrated load of musical expression of this collaboration. Rotterdam’s Oceanic has stepped in to give ‘Phantom Dance’ the remix treatment, turning the cinematic, dramaturgical original into a sugarcoated tribal house cut. The Dutch producer dips his brush in organic, earthy tones and rippling textures, serving up exotic sensations wrapped in a meandering string melody, sprinkled with trippy vocal hums and topped off with tantalizing acoustic percussion.
BUY THE TRACK
Massimiliano Pagliara - Unseen [Live at Robert Johnson]
Italian born, Berlin based DJ, producer and analog synth lover Massimiliano Pagliara has left a strong mark on the house scene of Berlin, releasing his records on mainstays such as Live at Robert Johnson, Uncanny Valley and Cocktail d'Amore and spreading his influence as a long-time regular at Robert Johnson in Offenbach and Panorama Bar in Berlin. For the second part of a two-part EP series called ‘Devoid Of Dimension’ Pagliara returns to Live at Robert Johnson with two beat-less chunks of synth driven ambience. ‘Unseen’ is another cosmic odyssey, ushered with a glistening synth arpeggio that swells and pulses over a windy swooshing sequence. This slice of beatless positivity keeps growing with dreamy pads and drones swirling in the background, steadily pushing up and forward at a woozy, anaesthetised pace until it gracefully closes out with sun-kissed electronics.
BUY THE TRACK
Fantastic Twins - The New You [Hippie Dance]
French producer Julienne Dessagne aka Fantastic Twins, formerly known as ‘The Twins', signs responsible for intoxicating analogue-driven sounds that explore the more expressive corners of the dancefloor. Her highly acclaimed releases on art house imprints Hippie Dance and Optimo Music are marked by an assured melodic instinct for crisp and genre-binding electronic ambiences, which are also woven into the sound of Sashienne - a duo maqnifique that she’s formed with German DJ and producer Sascha Funke. The title track from her new EP ‘The New You’ is a conjure of woozy synth swirls, metal clacks and celestial vocals, reverberating like ghosts of the past over a simple bass pulse. A knocking rhythm of a kick drum undergirds the smoothly twisted spectral vibes with live 4/4 drums and massive synth drones that turn the track into a haunting stunner.
BUY THE TRACK
Skeletons - All I want is you (Map.ache remix)
Jan Barich aka Map.ache, a longtime resident DJ of Leipzig's Conne Island and part of the always reliable KANN Records label and the Manamana DJ duo, reshapes ‘All I want is you’ from the New York indie band ‘Skeletons’ into a feathery late night/early morning departure. Barich smoothly twists an unwavering arpeggiated synth line with distant mood tones, controlled avalanches of claps and micro vocal samples that sparkle in and out of sight like blinding rays of the sun. Slightly past the halfway mark, the vocal and marimba melody of the original comes into the fold, infusing the track with emotional magnetism that is hard to resist.
BUY THE TRACK