- When a 22-year-old John Howes was interviewed by XLR8R, in 2016, he seemed to be questioning his youthful enthusiasm for club culture. "After a couple of years, I realized I'm not a massive party guy. Rather than try to make the tunes that make everyone go wild at the club, I want to make the ones that [make] people's heads cave in after." At the time, the Salford producer and "a couple of mates" had just kicked off a cassette label called Cong Burn Waves. Two years later, Cong Burn's debut vinyl release is their most polished and DJ-friendly yet. (With the exception of Lanark Artefax's dig- and CD-only Windox Rush, previous releases favoured tape-friendly freeform structures.) But it seems like the crew are still keeping Howes' words in mind. Oblique, sly and vulnerable, their tracks explore house and electro in a gentle afterhours space, taking inspiration from well-regarded softies like Workshop and Huerco S.
Echoes of Workshop are particularly strong on the opener, Haddon's "Not Coming To The Club Tonight." Its stop-start house swagger, medicated melodies and flat vocal samples point to peak-era Kassem Mosse, though it's so well executed that this is hardly a complaint. Howes' "Untitled" transposes the medicated mood onto a meticulously precise electro framework. At first bereft pads hold the attention, before glassy percussion ricochets ever more wildly around the track's icy spaces. The mood thaws on the B-side for two tracks that focus on gentle chords. L. Pearson's "PSR1170" contrasts their pillowy bounce with scratchy synth textures and more spindly percussion. Fellow Salfordians Perfume Advert abandon even that mild friction on "Dyn Horizontal Multiburst," a dubby lullaby to usher in your post-club slumber.
TracklistA1 Haddon - Not Coming To The Club Tonight
A2 Howes - Untitled
B1 L. Pearson - PSR1170
B2 Perfume Advert - Dyn Horizontal Multiburst