At Jazz & Mark De Clive Lowe – Sweat No Sleep review

Artist: At Jazz & Mark De Clive Lowe
Title: Sweat No Sleep
Label: Atjazz
Genre: Broken Beat/Nu Jazz
Format: Digital
Buy From: Juno Download

A storming release from a pair of deep house and nu-jazz dons who work wonders together on the “Sleep No Sweat” single. British producer Atjazz and New Zealand born Mark De Clive Lowe bring their styles together over a series of mixes, with the original club mix fusing a deep house groove with a mystical and bleary-eyed series of jazzy sound and sequences. It all hangs together on a knife edge, tensely building up to the addition of some softly played horns which in true jazz style usher in a pretty devastating key change.

MDCL’s Jazz Rub mix focuses less on the beat and more on the dazzling set of keys and atmospheric pads that fill out the track, making it sound like an unheard track from Herbie Hancock’s Secrets album. Atjazz’s Astro mix however shores up the beat nicely, adding shakers and some deep punchy kicks to the groove and keeping it centered around the spectacular brass. Atjazz even provides a Deeper Drop mix, a name which sums it up almost perfectly – gently paring all the track’s busier elements down to a murmur while a 4/4 kick drives things along deeply. A perfect crossover for jazzers and deep house heads, this special release will definitely invigorate fans of either genre no end.

Review: Oliver Keens