El Malo EP

Innervisions hombre Damian Schwartz has waltzed his way over to Oslo to release this mixed EP of rolling techy house that should certainly charm a few.

Schwartz's eclectic production slate has ranged from his more jazzy housey releases on Innervisions to the slightly more techier side that he recently brought out in his somewhat mixed album Party Lovers on Net 28. Schwartz has definitely tried to keep to the Oslo formula of rolling deep tech for which the likes of Johnny D and Federico Molinari made the Oslo stable so loved in 2008. Plastico starts with a distorted spooky warped punch that is soon joined by a Johnny D-esque deep techy riff that rolls along nicely. It's groovy – but there is little real substance here. A nice atmospheric breakdown helps give the tune some shape after a very two dimensional start – but many DJs will see Plastico as a tool if anything. You really are waiting for something to happen and it doesn't. Will bore in a club and bedroom listening it certainly ain't.

Things improve dramatically with Barrunto, a far deeper and more groovy effort from Schwartz. An understated and subtle bongo slowly builds upto a dazzling crescendo, a jazzy piano riff making the odd appearance and giving the track a real fun dancefloor friendly character. Barrunto again comes from the Johnny D school of rolling deepness – but unlike some of the aformentioned tunes, Schwartz keeps your attention the whole way, a distorted robotic vocal wonderfully contrasts with that fun piano riff and whispy hi-hat to make this a quality piece of house music that we can expect from both Schwartz and Oslo.