YEAR OF THE HORSE

Whenever Good Guy Mikesh drops new material on Riotvan, you'd better prick up your ears. Even though it's been a while already, his last Riotvan release "No Other" in collaboration with Filburt still makes our ears ring as one of the most unchallengeable house hymns of the last years. The current EP admittedly triggers the craving for sing-alongs a bit less. Instead, it formulates a self-confident outline of a very own electrified and blurred conception of the term house in all kinds of shades. Right at the beginning, "Power Plant" feeds the floors with massive energy thrusts. By no means can this be considered flimsy tree hugger soup. This track even shines in the detailed fizzy synths which condense on their way and lead to a bassy hook. When this eventually is mirrored in a glassy synth riff, which must be an echo from the electronic Mount Olympus, every power meter should rotate ecstatically. Havoc in the Stable comes along more subtly with note repeat salves and a hunch of string in its structure. And Mikesh doesn't even have to resort to the big vocal arrangements - the particular auto-sampling is catch enough. After this, there is "Standing", with its little feint in the beat modelling, the lush, gritty bass lines, the droning synths and an almost swaggering attitude to bank on dusty dryness in every respect, finally hunting the hornet swarm through the analogue synth. The last track "Phoenix" sets another, incomparably tender example of poise. 'Will' and 'Strong' are continuously reverberating, and you don't only buy this willpower from said track, which is founded on a piano undercoat and after the break escalates irresistibly, but from the entire EP, it radiates another four bright stars in Mikesh's vast firmament somewhere between high songwriting ambitions and captivating floor virtues. Tracklisting 1. Good Guy Mikesh - Power Plant 2. Good Guy Mikesh - Havoc In The Stable 3. Good Guy Mikesh - Standing 4. Good Guy Mikesh - Phoenix