Page 44 - Zone Magazine Issue 010

ALBUM REVIEW
Danny Slade [UK]
Tech House
M.in - Year Of The Ape [My Favourate Freaks Music] Zone Rating - 10/10
A great album, from Frankfurt based label boss and DJ Markus Ferdinand a. k. a. ‘M.in,’ which is full of collaborations and tasty Tech House grooves. The title of the album comes from Markus’s chinese birth sign and the fact that 2016 is also the year of the ape, and is not related to any of the tracks on the album.
There are collaborations with Pete Kaltenburg, Riven, Fabio Macor feat. Meg.e.Gray, Juliane Wolf and Bruno Gentile on the LP and there are ten tracks. Its ‘all killer no filler’ all the way through from the first track to the last, and all are worthy of single release as they are of such a discernable quality.
The first track ‘Fallen’ starts with a funky assed synth bass line and builds through layers of percussion with synth stabs and female vocal samples into a warm tech house groove and the second track ‘Make Some Noise’ uses retro electro percussion, a thudding kick drum and wobbly synth lines and just raises you into a real groove that translates to dancefloor devastation.
‘Rotate’ uses 303’s, spoken male vocal samples and a soulful vocal bridge and the rest of the album just continues to deliver the goods over and over again.
Listing each tracks merits will never get across how good they are so its a case of, if you like your tunes served up with a splash of house, a dollop of techno and a liberal portion of rump shaking retro funk, you would be mad to ignore this release.
My favourites are ‘Better You’ which is a collaboration with Pete Kaltenburg which has an electro bass line, weird futuristic effects and a speech on how to be a “better you” and the aforementioned ‘Fallen.’ I have to say though, that it was hard to pick which ones are best as they are all so damn good and for this reason this mini masterpiece earns itself full marks!
http://www.soundcloud.com/m-in
44 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE