- Marcello Napoletano and Francesco Schito formed the I.F.M. project as a tribute to a fallen friend, and their music similarly looks back to an idealized past—a time when the best house tracks were those that were just a little bit off-kilter, never quite throwing down a hook, but never sounding less than beguiling either. The four tracks contained on Back in the Days are all self-consciously backward looking, yet nonetheless retain the sort of timeless quality that occurs when you're dealing with the sort of analog instrumentation that this duo so clearly knows their way around.
Nonetheless, the boys do date themselves: "11 September" curiously samples a variety of US government officials saying the date, along with a sample that says "together!" While I know what it means—the press release in front of me says it's an effort to "pay homage and respect to those who were personally affected" by the tragedy—I'd be wary of playing it just about anywhere in the world. Elsewhere, though, the beats are the major focus, with "Miles" earning top honors for its mournful muted trumpet and about-to-squelch melody—not to mention its smooooth breakdown. "Tom" follows in its footsteps less effectively, but it's luckily buoyed by it's B-side counterpart, "Raw Vibe," which mines its title to ecstatic effect. It sounds a bit like what might happen if Four Tet ever tried to pull a Marcel Dettmann impersonation. It's a builder, plain and simple, but it's neither plain nor simple. These days, that's a very good thing.
TracklistA1 Miles
A2 11 September
B1 TOM
B2 Raw Vibe