It’s safe to say that unless you’ve been living on the moon for the last few years, which some people may feel was a better alternative than living on earth during that period (but that’s a different story…), you will more than likely be aware of Colombian musician and producer extraordinaire, Filipe Gordon. With releases on high-grade labels including Toy Tonics, Razor N Tape and Shall Not Fade, Felipe now brings his sound to Phonica Records‘ deeper-focused vinyl imprint, Karakul, with the superb four-track Timeless 12″.
The EP opens with Get Your Body Movin‘ featuring the ultra-silky vocals of previous collaborator, Bob The Egoist. If this doesn’t get your body moving, then you really need to have a word with yourself; the melding of Bob’s vocals, the snippets of female vox samples, the warm keys, the MAW-infused bassline and even a live flute solo, which could quite easily go very wrong indeed in most hands, all have a superbly uplifting fluidity. This isn’t a track attempting to re-write any ‘house music rules’, but when a track is so fantastically crafted, why does it need to?
We’re into much deeper territory for the title track, which is the A2 cut here. A single-note low rolling bassline is the simple opening tone, soon joined by a combination of panned key stabs, modulated synths and rattling percussive elements. The track takes a different direction at the halfway stage, with the synths dropping out and a selection of chopped jazzy piano elements replacing the synth, the jazzy sounds are replaced again a minute later, this time with phased and chopped stabby fizz-synths, all of these drop out totally at the 5.30 mark, allowing a wonderfully deep pad sound to rise from the bass, giving the closing of the track a real haunting feel.
For the B1 we are back into more of an upbeat area, with the undulating bass and delayed keys opening up Moving Results. The keys nag at you as the track progresses, then it’s pure delight as a new offbeat Moog-esque bass and lush pads add to the vibe. This is real ‘heads-down, big smiles, hip-shaking’ house music at its finest, perhaps taking its lead from Filipe’s ‘Momma, It’s a Long Journey’ track, which was a huge cut on his album for Shall Not Fade, but sticking with an instrumental flow here, to these ears this is giving a little nod to the above referenced release.
Closing the EP with perhaps the finest track here, as is often the case with a B2 on a 12″, where there is a deeper and less ‘big’ feeling, Take It Away is true ‘deep house’ of the absolute highest calibre. Swung drums, squelchy bass, occasional vocal hits, shimmering keys and pads are to the fore, making way for beautifully warm stabs and another glorious jazzy woodwind solo after the 3-minute mark. This is the culmination of 90s jazzy house a’la MAW, Spen & Karizma etc, but fused with the more modern aspects of pads & punchy bass found on recent deep house outings, creating a stunning final track on this EP which, as the title itself explains, is truly timeless.
Felipe Gordon & Bob The Egoist’ Timeless is available now via Karakul Records.
Words by Al Bradley
Torture the Artist 