- The world isn't short on tributes to classic New Jersey house, but it wouldn't hurt to have more like Marquis Hawkes and Timothy Blake's Love Precipitation. Kerri Chandler's style courses through the stabbing organs and ragtime piano of "Flip A Coin," and there's of course a banging 909 at play, too. Other tracks of this kind tend to chop some vocals and cycle the pieces into a skittish yet inflexible loop, but Hawkes & Blake go further. They bunch together digital strings, making chords that give "Flip A Coin" the joyful spirit of its '90s predecessors. As the strings go up, they bump into piano keys going the opposite way, which spill and sway on the offbeats.
The first four notes of "Love Precipitation" are almost identical to "Flip A Coin"'s main melody, but as it develops, it dials down the A-side's euphoria, if only a little. A theremin-like synth casts a slight shadow over "Love Precipitation," but it's otherwise topped with uplifting ingredients like organ notes, tart piano and an easy gospel vocal. As homages go, Love Precipitation nails its touchstones. But Hawkes & Blake also capture something more ineffable: through its freeform harmonies and whipping rhythm, the EP has a unique soulfulness.
TracklistA Flip A Coin
B Love Precipitation