Rondenion - Volare (Faces)

More goodness coming in from the land of the rising sun, through the classy French Faces imprint to be more exact. It's Tokyo-resident and beatdown Don Rondenion delivering the goods, and his output is always worth a listen. We first cottoned on to Rondenion when his two EPs on Still Music came out back in 2005/2006 (still in heavy rotation now, incredible, timeless stuff). He's hardly the most prolific of producers, but over the past 6 years he's done a fair few records of moody beatdown house on labels like Aesthetic Audio, Parker Musicworks, Bosconi, Rush Hour and, more recently, on his own label Ragrange. In all honesty, it's been a bit hit and miss for me since those two Still Music records. While the Tokyo Deep! is one of my favorite records of all times, I really don't care for the Rush Hour releases and most of the tracks off the first two Ragrange EPs.

This latest EP definately falls into the 'hit' category though. In case you were wondering, title track Volare is not an edit of THAT Gypsy Kings tune, but a wicked piece of midtempo house with an oldschool feel (looped up vocal snip and guitar hook, sloppy claps, raw drums), proper driving stuff. 'Devotion' follows the same patterns, choppy samples, sharp drums, vocal snippets and lovely piano lines. The closing track, 'Song A', is a sleazy, deep and moody pitched down number with a hiphop feel. Phenomenal 12", one of Rondenion's best in a long while.



Buy here