The inaugural release of MermaidS's new Goodship label has been out for a good while now but somehow ended up on the bottom of our monster pile of 'records to review'. I stumbled upon it again this weekend while trying to restore a bit of order in the utter chaos that is my record collection - a challenge of Biblical proportions that invariably leads to playing music for hours and creating even more chaos - and whacked it back on top of the review stack, as it's a pearl of a record that deserves a bigger audience.
We've been following the Scottish outfit behind the wonky moniker since we picked up their 'One' release that surfaced back in 2012. That record never left the bag. In fact, 'Deep in It' off that 12" has been one of our most prized secret weapons and never fails to get some spotty geek to ask for an ID. It's not hard to see why. MermaidS' output sits somewhere between the loopy, compressed gear of Tiger & Woods and Mark E's trippier tackle (the ones where he gloriously teases out a sample for minutes on end) with some magic 80s dust sprinkled on top and got picked up by upmarket labels like Glasgow Underground and Young Adults.
The first leg of the journey takes us to a rework of Allen Toussaint's slow burning Night People. Instead of relying on their usual bottom-heavy, choppy approach, they kept the original largely in tact, gently nipping and tucking away, adding some extra drums, oomph and drive to proceedings. The soul of the original still stands strong, but them Mermaids managed to give the track a whole new suspenceful dimension. Classy as fook.
On the B-side Alexander O'Neal's 'The Lovers' gets flipped on its back for a proper makeover. I'm a real sucker for the kind of 80s cheeky casio boogie O'Neal and Kashif were so good at, and the Mermaids gang really nailed this reconstruction, stripping away the cheesy bits and building on the badass drums and synths instead. Finally there's track 'III', a driving, dark, moody basement workout that should have people reaching for the lazors instantly.
Badass stuff, don't miss out!
Still available here
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