Review: The eighth instalment in Running Back's playful Hits! series arrives with a globetrotting batch of quirky dancefloor charmers, spanning interstellar disco, Italo throwbacks and Berlin School eccentricity. Kicking things off, Skatman leans into sleazy synth funk and smoky melodrama with 'What I Am Feelin'', a crooning synth-pop number pitched somewhere between space cabaret and Metro Area. Baron Von Traxian Australian prince of peaktime pompibrings glitzy melancholy with 'If I Only Knew', layering ascending Italo arps and soft pads over a chugging disco pulse. Janis Zielinski and Sowhy3 (both Berlin-based) turn in 'In Your Eyes' twiceifirst as a vocal daydream of euro-pop yearning, then as a sleek instrumental. Morphena's 'Venus Underworld' dials up the noir with icy stabs and new wave propulsion, while Zoe Zoe's 'Palikau Dzemperi' signs off with a Tangerine Dream-style glide repurposed for the club. There's no unifying concept, but as with earlier volumes, that's the point: a polychrome snapshot of Running Back's curious, cosmopolitan world.
Review: Increasingly vital Brazilian artist Zopelar is back with more of his twisted house concoctions, this time with plenty of 909s and 808s defining everything from samba jack to Chicago swing. 'Fornix (feat Martinelli)' is a caustic, acid-laced sweat-box tackle, then 'Conga Master' is more dubby and roomy with fizzy cymbals almost acting like ASMR. 'Gon Hard' is a proto-house scuzz-fest that morphs into zoned out depths and 'Zwing' is a collision of drum loops and hits, balmy pads and fuzzy pads that fires many different feelings at once. '909 Samba' is just that and is a clear standout and 'Do It Wild' is raw and dusty house with detuned synths bringing an eerie edge to the party.
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