Tambien – Ondule
Tambien have struck themselves out as a fine purveyor of light and fruity house music over the last couple of years, with an allegiance to the kind of discoey, Balearic, tropical D.I.Y. world that has floated around and flourished through the work of International Feel, the Testpressing site and ESP Institute. Public Possession, steered by the two thirds of Tambien called Marvin and Valentino have become an increasingly prominent element of this world with their slightly beefier, housier selections.
Indeed, especially when on Public Possession, the group often play for that tone, an attractive mix of atmospheric, classically tropical motifs and coarse house-tempo drums and basslines. The music increasingly exploring an intersection between dancer and home listener tastes. In this sense The Tambien Project series is a particular highlight, sticky, persuasive and percussive works that often combine with a kind of screwball loony tunes cartoonishness to amp up the sense of play and colour.
Their piece for Kitjen, “Ondulé”, finds the trio at an increased pace, a swift and furtive synth sequence darting into line and between quick, silvered flicks of drum. There’s a new kind of coolness though, a distance that keeps progression sleek and development firmly on-track, a bullet train cutting through the hills. It means an easing up of tensions even as a tempo rises, the wilder excesses of their production tempered back quite heavily and the rougher, more rugged PP sound turning sweeter and nearer to their gentler, more melodious pieces for ESP Institute. The last two minutes finds and adds a strange android chorus and the effect is uplifting, airy, lightly toasted; a conversation of modern engineering that warms and glides.
On the flip Kornél Kovács remix of the track catches this drive and kowtows to it, focusing on the stripping off of excess elements in order to access and juice up the engine. The result is pure and slow-burning, the throbbing filtered electro bassline and slowly developing, underslung chords giving off a slick ‘shades on, drive towards the sunset’ Kavinsky-esque appeal.
Matthew Kent
Tracklisting:
A. Ondulé
B. Ondulé (Kornèl Kovàcs Remix)