Dan Marciano – ‘Amsterdam’ EP

Parisian Dan Marciano’s latest offering is likely to slip under the UK radar despite having fully earned his stripes as DJ, producer and promoter across the Channel.

Marciano is the man behind ManimalZ, the hugely successful club night based in the Queens Club on the Champs-Élysées of all places. ManimalZ goes into the New Year off the back of a promising season moonlighting at Ibiza’s Vista Club and  yet still he’s managed to get in some studio time with new release the ‘Amsterdam EP’ on Supermarket Records. And it looks like time well spent.

With previous releases on labels like Full House, Escape, Royal Flush and Connected Records, the Amsterdam EP – out this week – features the tracks ‘Ola Keta’ and ‘Amsterdam’ and is evidence his production style has evolved since ‘Good Morning Paris’ way back in 2007. This is perhaps influenced by playing alongside deeper soundsmiths like Solomun and Finnebassen and completing his first tour of duty on La Isla Blanca, after a ManimalZ party at Privilege in 2012.

I mean no disrespect when I say this EP’s surprisingly good. Marciano caught me off guard with its simple yet to-the-beat directness. It’s certainly distinct from a lot of his previous material and oozes an understated quality suggesting that Marciano has turned a significant corner in his production technique and ability.

The first track on the offering is Ola Keta. Menacing sounds emerge from the backdrop of a roving bassline and percussive elements lead the track through the dark, pitched-down vocal snippets and tonal outbursts. Definitely on the deep side of tech with house elements, Ola Keta cruises confidently in the mix.

Title track Amsterdam shares similar qualities with track 1 but has a lot more going on.  It sits on the more serious side of tech house but is lively enough to keep energy levels up and heads high. Stabbing synths take over from percussion as the driving force in this one with a cowbell on the 4th the key point of reference.

A strong pair of tracks with similar timbre, good sounds spectrums and bullish basslines make the Amsterdam EP a very decent shout in the bulging tech and tech house markets. The EP is a digital release available from this week on Beatport.

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