- There's a small army of producers churning out stylish house music from Bologna, Italy. Most have a few aliases, so it's anyone's guess how many people are involved. They release on labels like 320KB Music, P!STA Records and Howl, often self-pressing vinyl in quantities as painfully low as a few dozen. They don't play outside Italy often, but their records are favourites of DJs like Zip and Dana Ruh. One of these producers is Jacopo Latini, also known as Jackie. He's in at least three groups—Hills Connection, Homequest and Voodoo Effect—and has put out solo tracks on labels like Dancing Like Quagmire and BOLO REPRESENT, an outlet founded by "a small group of bad boys." Latini's latest EP lands on Dreamers Recordings, a new Berlin-based outlet that shares his affinity for bass-heavy rollers.
Most of Underwater's charm comes from tricky basslines and loud claps, as melody takes a backseat to rhythm. The EP's title track is its dreamiest, with pads and hints of an old-school house riff buried in the mix. "Atmosphere" is cheerier, with another syncopated bassline and larger dose of upbeat sounds swirling in the midrange. Only "Passages," with its stuttered flow and '00s-era deep house sound feels suited to a party's opening section—the others are pure party rockers, Bologna-style.
TracklistA1 Underwater
B1 Atmosphere
B2 Passages