- Earlier this year, Moodymann talked regional rollerskate culture, saying, "On the floor [people] represent where they're from. They all have different styles." And as much as the tracks that close Moody associate Andrés has released in recent years speak to the dance floor, they also speak to the rink. Dez Andrés would be the first to tell you there's no real need to remix Earth, Wind & Fire's "Mighty Mighty," but on his new record's A-side, he nonetheless makes it into a joyous, dizzying thing. He even sprinkles in dashes of Eddie Kendricks' "My People…Hold On" for extra oomph, adding just enough to inspire a few more orbits around the rink.
Mighty Tribe's B-side doesn't always match the energy and pace of its counterpart. A tricky conga dribbles around a house thump on "Chevy Status," but the other elements of the track—synth swells, echoing piano keys, clipped vocals—never quite add up. "Pluck Away" is more lively, as if Babyface's nylon-string guitar was borrowed to build up the track. Strings and horns jab in and out, but it's the way that the producer toys with the guitar figure—doubling the strum, now snipping away the edges, now letting the tricky melody entwine with the dubbed-out horns—that shows Andrés has a way of mastering many different styles.
TracklistA1 Mighty Tribe
B1 Chevy Status
B2 Pluck Away