Big Tunes: April '16
Ten tunes you definitely need in your life this month
1 Lee Walker
'Freak Like Me (DJ Deeon vs Lee Walker remix)' (Defected)
An Amnesia smash for Marco Carola last summer and endorsed by Annie Mac on news of its signing to Defected, this Dance Mania-inspired anthem may signal a return to Roulé-style house and garage.
2 Leon Vynehall
'Beau Sovereign' (Running Back)
Sven Väth hammered ‘It's Just (House of Dupree)’ all summer, a reminder than Leon really has joined techno’s top table. And his latest EP continues that story, the clanking vocal houser ‘Beau Sovereign’ is our pick of eight on-point tracks.
3 4th Measure Men & Sonny Fodera
'Don’t Touch Me When I’m Dancing' (Repopulate Mars)
Hot Natured’s Lee Foss is about to launch his Repopulate Mars label with a very big look: MK’s 4th Measure Men guise, co-producing this huge Tiga-esque house banger with Sonny Fodera: it has Miami/Ibiza 2016 written all over it.
4 Way Out West
'Tuesday Maybe (I:Cube Sunrise remix)' (Anjuna Deep)
The first Way Out West single in seven years comes with a masterful seven-
minute mix from French legend I:Cube. He’s on a roll after rerubs of José Padilla and Todd Terje last year; here’s his latest, to complete the (hat) trick.
Check it out upon release on April 22.
5 Floorplan
'Music' (M-Plant)
Original UR production don Floorplan, aka Robert Hood, came back with a bang on ‘Never Grow Old’, a mainstay for Ricardo, Black Coffee and Sven. ‘Music’ is one of several spiritual moments here – and the bassline/Kevin Saunderson Reese synth interplay is undeniable.
6 Skream
'This Love' (Soundcloud)
A highlight of his DJ sets since last summer, if ‘This Love’ is the production direction Skream is going in we couldn’t be happier. Mixmag.net already picked up on this techno instrumental, which evokes the 909 spirit of classic Soma.
7 Icarus feat Aurora
'Home' (Parlophone)
Like Annie Mac, we’ve been keeping an eye on Icarus (aka brothers Ian and Tom) for a while. Their second Big Tunes slot boasts clever touches of house inspiration that we haven’t come across in a while – and the vocal refrain is classy, too.
8 Mark E
'Basement Traxx' (Futureboogie)
Bristol imprint Futureboogie follow up their excellent Lauer EP back in January with this searing disco-tech two-tracker from Mark E, who takes no prisoners with the scorched synths that permeate through ‘Trax 1’ or indeed ‘2’. But ‘1’ is the one.
9 Peggy Gou
'Jen High' (Rekids)
Regular readers may recall that South Korean artist Peggy was in Big Tunes three months back thanks to an excellent EP and Galcher remix. Now she’s back with the second part of the Art Of War series. Our pick is the perky melodic bounce of lead track ‘Jen High’.
10 Few Nolder
'One' (NeedWant)
London label NeedWant continues to impress, now welcoming Lithuania’s Few Nolder with a sizzling seven-minute instrumental featuring huge chords and classic Kompakt vibes. One for Solomun, Pete Tong and Maceo Plex’s crowds.
