Odd Numbers - Break Even

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  • For a label professing not to be one, No 'Label' is pretty strong. Launched in 2011 but really kicking off in the second half of 2012, the imprint focuses on music that's a little too strange for its parent label Rush Hour, occasionally made by folks you wouldn't expect to be releasing dance EPs. (Their biggest hit thus far, Leisure Connection's exceptional Jungle Dancing / Wave Riding, came from artists tied to the American lo-fi scene.) One of its latest signings, though, doesn't come out of nowhere, exactly: Odd Numbers is Suzanne Kraft, Secret Circuit and Willie Burns. And the music on Break Even, their first release together, is among the label's most straightforward material. Straightforward is a relative term for these three and this label, of course. Playful, vintage and catchy despite itself, Break Even couldn't be accused of lacking personality. Drawing more or less equally from each producer's sound signature with plenty of warm-weather flair, "Riviera" could be the result of a lock-in they staged on a yacht. It's a summer jam as only they'd envision, its cheesy instrumentation (flutes, whistles, bongos, wildly earnest vocals) stitched together with sophistication. The slower, synthier "Sliding Door" pulls things in Secret Circuit's direction, while "Piper's Delight" lends some Balearic sunshine to the epicness of Burns' Black Deer material. The EP's closer, "UFOtube," isn't much more than handclaps, a bouncy bassline and synth chords, but you can't fault its simplicity. Like the meeting of these three weirdo-house minds, it makes perfect sense.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Riviera A2 Sliding Door B1 Piper's Delight B2 UFOTube
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