- Oasi's four tracks are the product of a collaboration between Phillip Lauer (Tuff City Kids, Talamanca Soundsystem, Arto Mwambe) and Fabrizio Mammarella (Telespazio). This sort of glowing Italo and house music—with arp-like vocal flecks, juicy bass grooves and shining pads all at the fore—can easily lapse into irritating pastiche, but it's scant surprise that Lauer and Mammarella carry it off with style.
The duo's success is partly down to the variety they muster from the general glossed-up, '80s pop mood. They never get stuck on one idea, and the record stays fresh as a result. Where Balearic opener "Hype Around" floats by blissfully, "Spumatix" follows it with steel drums, marimbas and space echo. "Black Spuma" goes for sparky Italo via a chirruping synth melody and humid, echoing vocals. Closer "Emizioni Miste," however, is deliberate and machine-like, with a limb-contorting bassline that's gloriously half-robotic, half-organic. From Oasi's background info, it seems that Black Spuma was a pretty off-the-cuff collaboration, but hopefully Lauer and Mammarella won't stop here.
TracklistA1 Hype Around
A2 Spumatix
B1 Black Spuma
B2 Emizioni Miste