Soul Clap / The Alezby Inn Remixes
Vinyl / Digital
Wolf + Lamb / Released April 2013
“In the beginning, we were all created equal. What the fuck happened to her?” With a penchant for freakiness, rather than political correctness, Boston’s Soul Clap return to the slo-mo funk fore with more witty soundbites and era-spanning breaks.
Despite this being a remix package, and the reworkings differing from their source material, everything stays close to the sounds the original producers are best known for. Perhaps Night Plane’s Club and Miami interpretations of Ecstasy could be seen as a vague anomalies, both carrying deep tech house influences audible in the rich layers of melodic goodness. Technicalities aside, they’re certainly nice tunes, with Mel Blatt’s instantly recognisable vocals drifting in and out of earshot, creating a far more underground and usable piece of music from a DJ’s perspective when compared with her other appearance here.
After all, if you drop Need Your Lovin‘- either in last year’s Soul Clap format or John Camp’s fantastic jazzy alternative included on this package- everyone in the vicinity is going to notice. Needless to say then, like any massive tune it should be used sparingly, and when it does get played the person responsible better mean it. In contrast, the title number(s)- The Alezby Inn, here redone by The Egyptian Lover and then Nick Monaco- are also pretty sizeable, but will afford more repeat plays amongst the target market. Which is good, because both are great, opting for compelling Prince-esque pop funk and dark hypnotic electro respectively. Few surprises then, considering Soul Clap is shorthand for most of the styles represented here, nevertheless as an EP it hits the nail on the head, and serves to prove the whole if it ain’t broke don’t fix it theory.