Berlin based Italian duo HARD TON have spent the last few years combining a love of metal, Chicago house, Italo Disco and “oversized queerness “ into releases for Permanent Vacation, Toy Tonics, Compost Disco, International Deejay Gigolo, Balkan Vinyl, and Bordello A Parigi amongst others. We like them a lot.
Their Collective Leisure debut hits hard, starting with ‘Safe’, which teams up 89’ sounding pianos, running bassline, and a full european flavoured, soulful song into a chunky little house bomb.’Safe Dub’ spaces that vocal out, drifting slivers of it across the track for an immersive outing, whilst ‘Synthetic’ goes down a darker, druggier, more stripped back route, as an insistent 303 line, machine vocal and rattling 808 drums do much of the work,all to full basement friendly effect.
On the remix front, Brooklyn duo Earth Boys step away from their Shall Not Fade work for a moment to deliver remixes on both tracks. On ‘Synthetic’ they take a measured, chunky, mid tempo approach, very much after-hours friendly, but with a sheen of understated sophistication. Kinda like the ambassadors party, but in a slightly dubious basement in E LDN,with discarded noz empties littering the floor instead of Ferrero Roche’ wrappers.
The Boys mix of ‘Safe’, on the other hand, doth not f*ck about one bit, cranking the BPMs’ and pitching the vocals right up, creating a wonky end times party banger for the ages. We won’t lie, the artists weren’t exactly sure at first, but it’s all sorted now, and we’re here for it, all of us.
credits
released March 17, 2023
Written & Produced by Mauro Copeta & Massimo Bastasi.
Published by Viceroy Music.
Post-punk meets a very classic alt-rock sound on the new record from this Chicago group. RIYL The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr, and Yo La Tengo. Bandcamp New & Notable May 4, 2024