Daphni – Ne Noya review

Dan Snaith’s reincarnation as Daphni continues unabated with the first single on his newly minted Jiaolong imprint. Fans of the recent Resista twelves will no doubt be intrigued to hear what the difference in sound is with Jiaolong. Whilst Snaith is still essentially re-editing obscure tracks here too, there does appear to be more emphasis on an electronic sound than the two Resista releases.

The opening track sees Snaith borrow the Togolese jam “Ne Noya” by Cos-Ber-Zam from the Analog Africa crew and rework it in a fashion similar to his Virgo Four remix. The heavily percussive groove and vocal hook are allowed to settle down, before Snaith brings a huge cloak of bass and waves of psychedelia over the track.

Flipside “Yes, I Know” is one of the Daphni tracks Snaith debuted on his RA mix earlier this year, and was perhaps the one everyone wanted most – all jagged acid lines and razor sharp drum hits playing off the heavily filtered and looped vocal and trumpet hook. It’s quite thrilling and a definite highlight of this release – especially when the track descends into the fragile source material at the end. Finally, “Jiao” splices a decidedly dusty warehouse groove with uniquely odd eastern organ fuzz – kind of like Omar Souleyman in the studio with Legowelt.

Tony Poland