- The Brooklyn producer's latest treasure trove of bangers has the seductive feel of an espionage film, courtesy of serpentine basslines, disco stabs and tight, soulful vocals.
- During his time in Brooklyn's electronic music scene, Serbian producer Bojan Cizmic has fine-tuned a sound that neatly brings together the most driving elements of rave, hard house and rolling '90s techno. Anyone prowling New York's clubscape last year was likely to hear his music for precisely this reason. The X-Coast catalog is defined by its energetic dynamism, flamboyant with a distinct edge of untouchable, nostalgic and sometimes mischievous cool. These are not filler tracks, but records better reserved for a club night approaching its peak—or the early morning, when droopy-eyed dancers muzzy from hours of stomping are due for a pick-me-up.
On his latest record, Pianissimo, Cizmic returns to Mall Grab's Steel City Dance Discs label, which is often home to scruffy breaks or loopy techno. This EP has the seductive feel of an espionage film, courtesy of its serpentine basslines, disco stabs and tight, soulful vocals. On the opener, a boyish voice kicks things into gear, pronouncing it "party, party, party time!" with a chugging bassline and glittering disco synths that decorate the downbeat. "House It Up" is brilliant and suspenseful, with a trudging bassline that builds up to an explosion of smeared disco house abandon. "The Ultimate" is somehow even slinkier, its muffled synths tip-toeing across the propulsive matter beneath.
Cizmic doesn't just bring the energy up. He can shoot his tracks into the stratosphere, as shown on earlier records like last year's The Atlantic Connection. On Pianissimo, the title track is where Cizmic leans into his trance and tribal house influences, bringing in hazy pads that drift over hand drum pitter-patter. A vocalist releases a cathartic, unintelligible sound. It seems to embody the scenery depicted in the record's only liner note: "Somewhere in the deep blue Caribbean Sea, between reality and illusion, lies an island: X-Coast."
Tracklist01. Party Time
02. House It Up
03. Pianissimo
04. The Ultimate