Remarkably enough, the music of sibling duo Hotel Lauer has taken a further trancey turn with the ecstasy-seeking ‘Lauer & Lauer‘, their first outing on Stuart Leath’s ever-inspired [Emotional] Especial. Sharing a similar cold wave’y approach to synth melodies doped on beefy electro-bass tubes and crisp, compressed kicks, their sound gained a sheer rave energy and magnitude where their previous couple EPs for LARJ and Kitjen seemed to fold up rather than blast unhinderedly.
Anthemic opener ‘Tamzarian‘ rolls out a descending italo bass drowned in acidic puddles, pushing retractile piano stabs over and under as savage 909 kicks and snares smash the pressure gauge to keep the adrenaline flowing. Destined for open-air sound systems and late afternoon woodland fiestas, it’s the kind of nimble, spacey leg-chopper that’ll keep your mind drifting and feet stomping effortlessly. Alluring and dynamic, the epitome of an ideal “summer tune”.
"Carefree but certainly not brainless, Hotel Lauer's tracks are proper floor-magnets, going for the sensation and flavor over envelops and non-melodic convolutions at any cost"
Carefree but certainly not brainless, Hotel Lauer’s tracks are proper floor-magnets, going for the sensation and flavor over envelops and non-melodic convolutions at any cost. ‘Perry Patch‘ forms a symmetry with ‘Tamzarian‘ as it rides to the same type of infectious, forward-moving groove but sieved through a more stripped-back sound design.
‘Sanger‘ slows down the frame rate a little, borrowing the same altered post-Gregorian choirs heard on the previous cuts, just as nicely incorporated as another lingering pad or stringy instrument layer. It certainly benefits a more panting last stretch, firing a flurry of synth-blaster bolts and colossal rave horns to add another gigantic dimension to its enticing spaced-out keyboard lines.
Drawing the curtain in syncopated electro mode, ‘Klutzny‘ offers a more complete picture of the brothers’ capacity at marrying kosmische-like epics, off-grid drumwork and heavy bass-driven noodling. The result is both convincing on the melodic front and as a slightly more leftfield analogue try-out, taking its weird circuits for a last waltz of bizarre broken-beat and sizzling bass moves. A very special emotion indeed.
Lauer & Lauer is out now, order a vinyl copy from Juno.
TRACKLIST
A1. Tamzarian
A2. Sanger
B1. Perry Patch
B2. Klutzny
Discover more about Hotel Lauer and [Emotional] Especial on Inverted Audio.