- After recently making a mix, I got the word back from a friend: "A bit fluffy." I can't help but think that Dodi Palese and dan Mela get the same sort of feedback on their own tracks for Compost. Their debut split 12-inch for the label has no testosterone to speak of, floating along in the clouds of the early warm-up set or late night afterhours. "Glow," a solo joint from Palese has an especially thin kick, content to let the kid bassline take things over before jazzy keys enter the picture.
It's functional house music that's resolutely funky (in a German way, mind) and, as a result, dan Mela is the star here. He takes Palese's original and gives it a pump it never imagined. Adding symphonic touches to the main theme, Mela gets wimpy jazz house to almost sound anthemic. Better yet is "Re-Troit," which is similarly jacked up and leavens the busy bongos in the back with long, sweeping chords in the front. Mela knows to mix hard and soft (the hard being very relative here) to create some drama for the moment when everything cuts out sans keening strings, programmed drums and handclaps. Go for the flip on this one.
Tracklist A1 Dodi Palese - Glow (Original)
A2 Dodi Palese - Glow (Dan Mela Remix)
AA1 Dan Mela - Re-Troit