Mexico

The Mexican platform Comunité returns with its second outpost in the form of a Various Artist package showcasing some of the core players featured on the 2018 bill of the festival. Through a heap of selected works of both regulars and newcomers – COM002 offers a glimpse of the festival’s signature curation of eclectic tastes, from prime-time floor fillers blended in with experimental acoustic sorcery.The 12” kicks off with a notorious collaboration between two regulars of the Tulum-based event: Tijuana’s Soul of Hex mind-bending classic approach to house music amalgamated with Mule Musiq’s Kuniyuki and his complex synth work – culminating in Dampe, a 7 minute joint-effort between Mexico and Japan. A2 continues in the vein of Cuba’s Alpha 606 – a fresh artist debut on the label. Through staggering hi-hat work and filtered synth pad beds, the Miami based artist showcases his signature electro style that blends An undoubtable latin rhythmic influence with drum machines and LFO-grooved melodies forming “Shadow”.On the flip side, Mexico City’s techno veteran Itzone takes the floor with an introductory ambient piece featuring a vocal narrative that highlights inspirational and mystic concepts–serving as both an interlude as well as a commencement to the rest of the package. Comunités regular JoSep takes on the torch afterwards, providing his always floor-ready 4/4 hypnotic debauchery and shining a light On one of the festival’s core aesthetics. Closing off the second instalment of the label, Mexico City’s AAAA offers his signature plate of modular synthesis-based experiments, welcoming into his realm of apocalyptic concepts simultaneously to a soothing closure of the record; a magnifying glass into one of Mexico’s front-running creational platforms.

The Mexican multi-genre record label CVMR returns in its wax infused form with its sophomore vinyl-only release following the sold out, Larry Heard remixed, Tijuana-made phenomena “Lip Reading” by Soul of Hex with a newcomer artist. Fedde, hailing from the strictly-vinyl/house-head-friendly dance floors of Mexico City and currently living in Berlin, presents his debut record on the label, with his extended play format entitled _Supermoon EP_ accompanied by two remixes of the Konotop-ian genius of Ukraine’s hardware experimentalist Vakula.The EP kicks off with the space journey of digital M1 chords and feel good lead lines of the original mix _Supermoon_. Here, Fedde portrays the simplicity of blending catchy 80s power-synth melodies with muffled disco-tinted basslines on top of a bed of raw drum machine debauchery. This track serves as an adequate and exhilerating opening for the rest of the release. The package is then followed by _Pad_, which at first glance seems like a more atmospheric and dubbed-out version of _Supermoon_, sharing the same lead line aesthetics, yet provides a more emotional twist through its complex harmony narrative driven by the protagonist element suggested by its title: dreamy, shimmering, and nostalgia-inducing pad work.Vakula steps in right after with his own interpretation of _Pad, _a remix which could be considered more of a cover or re-make of Fedde’s star exploration journey. Dubby, texture-frenzied soundscapes, and reverberated percussions/arpeggios can be appreciated throughout the 8:00 + minute: a definite twist to the dance-floor oriented vibe created by the first two original mixes. The release is concluded with a revisitation to the classic forms of house music, a composition of diva-like vocals, digital pianos, 80s boogie style slap claps, and Moog-y baseline stabs: a definite afterparty floor knocker.