JOHN TALABOT ƒIN SPECIAL EDITION

Last time we wrote about Barcelona's darling of dark house music at the moment John Talabot it was all about his new album released earlier this year (spring time), ƒIN. This time around, it's about that same album, except this time it's getting a bit of a rejig and a quasi-re-release as ƒIN - Special Edition. Sounds need enough, but what's so special about it?

It's not just a straight-up re-release with a fancier-looking album sleeve, it's a whole new album, with new tracks that are only played on tour and other remixes and versions of original tracks done by new artists. As the sound of ƒIN was so wide and encompassing, toying with the kind of sound found in the fissures between light, ear-friendly dance, and the somewhat jagged waves that offer up a darker, newer, more introspective dance sound. That was the overall sound. The special edition of that album carries on in the same vein, illustrated quite perfectly by two unreleased outtakes, 'Mai Mes' and 'Tragedial'.

As with all John Talabot songs, there is a great utilisation of the many different layers of 'Mai Mes'; what starts off as a very simple track ends up a veritable club sandwich of sawtoothed bass synth, various Oriental-sounding, reverbed strings and bells, a repeating melody that is so pleasing to the ears that it's hard not to think you're already familiarised with this track on first listen, and a high-pitched vocal sample wailing over the top of everything towards the end.

The same can be said of 'Tragedial', however this is a much more understated track, perhaps lacking the familiar hook of 'Mai Mes', that revels in ambience rather than trying to persuade people to dance. It still showcases the wonderful building blocks of sound that John Talabot puts together for our listening pleasure, highlighting his ability to multiply many different sounds without everything getting jumbled or clustered - everything has its place.

If you'd like to hear more of this, plus other remixes of this kind of stuff, then you should be on the lookout for John Talabot's special edition of ƒIN, released 30th November on Permanent Vacation.

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John Talabot on Facebook
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Permanent Vacation's official site
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JOHN TALABOT SO WILL BE NOW FEAT PIONAL

John Talabot's ƒIN is one of the most welcome releases I've heard this year so far. The whole album marks a darker detraction from his earlier, much lighter variant of house music, sitting as it is now in the pitch blackness of minor tones, minimalist beats, echoes, reverberting hand-claps and a spooky ambience that would do well to accompany the mood at a kind of Cafe del Mar at the end of the world.

But all that does by no means infer that ƒIN is bad. It is bad, as in good; it's good, as in great. Just be prepared for a darker outing: instead of a parasol, you'll need a torch.



Whilst I'd love to talk about the whole thing, let me just focus on one particiularly brilliant song from Talabot's latest effort. It's the wonderful 'So Will Be Now...' featuring fellow-Spanish outfit (and fellow Permanent Vacation label-mate), Pional.

It's the last track on the new album, and is almost like a study of how best to build up the atmosphere of a song. It's near-perfect, featuring light, mechanical hi-hats that flit above a low modulating bass, and a thin snare, accompanied every now and again by a hauntingly echoing clap that fits greatly with the synthesised sound flying in every now and again, a sound like striking an icicle with an electrolised tuning fork. There's this perfect breakdown in the middle of the song, where the beat disappears and all we hear is this vocal sample, gently dragged down an octave or so, to give it this androidiac sense of the middle of the night and loneliness.

The percussion in this, as to be expected of such a seasoned house producer as Talabot, is addictive, each different sound hitting a corresponding target in the brain. The samples. The gradual ascent of this fizzy, slightly saw-wave synth towards the end. The rise of sounds from that eerie minimal beginning to the finish, where it culminates in genuine dancefloor bliss before popping like some pleasure balloon into only a metronome of a beat and a hint of a sound, is genius and should not and cannot be disputed.

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• Check out John Talabot on SoundCloud
• More of John Talbot's music on his Myspace page (more traffic is now had on Tagged than Myspace, fyi)
• Check out his Facebook page
• FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER
• (Permanent Vacation's official site)
• (And here's their Facebook page)

JOHN TALABOT LEAVE ME

I found this Barcelona-based producer thanks to a recent remix (or 'vocal refix' as he calls it) he did of the wonderful Teengirl Fantasy's underheard 2010 anthem 'Cheaters'. It's great - completely chilled with deepened vocals, giving the already-classic song a completely different vibe.

This song below, 'Leave Me (friendly pattern version)' is a solo effort by John Talabot and certainly not his first. It's a masterclass in giving a song time to build up by letting it breathe and lift organically, rather than forcing dynamic with sudden syncopated changes in volume or tempo.



Though repetitive (and what dance music isn't?) this chilled house is extremely easy on the ears, a sampled "Don't leave me..." gradually finding its way through the chords to become the main focus of the song around two thirds of the way through, when Talabot really goes to town, messing with the sample till the close of the track. Nearly perfect, you'll be melting in the sun to this track.

And if you like that, and if you like house music, you'll love his 'Summerized mix'. Released a year ago to his SoundCloud page, it's an hour-long festival of sun-dreched poolside cocktail-soaked chatter-driven party-forged obscure disco house tunes, mixed together with more than a small dose of knowledge in how to create and sustain an atmosphere. I'm listening to it in the garden right now - this mix chills to the max.



So now you'll know exactly what to play when the starts setting at your next Saturday barbecue; summer is definitely, and finally, here.

'Leave Me' is soon being physically introduced to the world via German label Permanent Vacation's latest compilation, beautifully named If This Is House I Want My Money Back Zwei. Due for release on 26th August, and if John Talabot's input is anything to go by, it's going to be a delightful experience. Have a listen to a quick teaser mix of the album - the quick and dirty Megamixx.

• Have a listen to more of John Talbot's music on his Myspace page
• Check out his amazing tracks and mixes on SoundCloud
• Check out his or even Like his Facebook page
• FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER
• Permanent Vacation's official site
• And here's their Facebook page

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