REVIEW: Johannes Albert – Palm Saturdays EP via Ohrenschmaus Podcast

author: marko vincenzo meth
source: ohrenschmaus podcast

With the “Palm Saturdays EP” Franconian Johannes Albert makes his first move on Mainz based label Klamauk. The 8th release adds some new facets to the catalogue with Johannes’ very own interpretation of house music. This kind of sound can be found on earlier releases from Frank Music’s label head as well. Whether it is on labels like White, Jackoff Records or his own imprint, always displaying a dirty and old fashioned house sound that bribes with roughness. The three original tracks from Johannes are companied by a superb Christopher Rau up-tempo remix, which rounds up the EP perfectly.

“Frentic Moment” opens this EP with slight dub influenced sounds and soulful chords that harmonious play with an agile string. The heavily used delay on the percussion that float through the background add even more movement to the whole arrangement. It seems like all the sounds are interacting with each other throughout this five minutes lasting masterpiece, generating a high amount of emotionality with it’s positive yet melancholic parts. The pounding kick and playful use of different patterns transport this modern house ballad onto the dance floors and into the hearts of all house lovers. The second track on the a-side is Christopher Rau’s remix of “Frentic Moment”, which uses the shuffled percussion of the original to create a more industrial sounding up-tempo version of Johannes’ original. The emotional content is stripped back to a minimum and can only be found in very rare parts of the song. His remix clearly focuses on heavy drum use, sharp and dry claps support a lush bass drum. On top of that snares are clicking and small vocal snippets rush through the track, combined with up and down filtered strings a highly dynamic house track arises. Once again Christoph created a remix which pays tribute to the original with clearly recognizable parts, but at the same time comes up with his very own interpretation which got a bit rougher and more experimental in the last months. “Lift Me Up Tight” on the b-side is a typical Hans track. An homage to classic house tracks from the nineties with all its shuffled chords and looped vocals. Rough drums underneath, radically filtered parts that give some depth to the track and here it is: the modern version of classical house music. Perfect for almost every party out there with the high amount of energy and the mesmerizing vocal. “A Door I Only Opened Once” brings this EP to an end. Pounding and almost overpowered kicks once again create a raw vibe, whilst the mid-tempo of the track in combination with the endless pad in the background turn this one into a nice last track. Dreamy chords and soft percussions are in contrast to the reverb powered and trashy sounding clap. This track could be best described as a romantic rubbish dump love affair. Beauty and ugliness are having a date that bizarrely works out pretty well. Mysterious and magical, this one must be heard and can’t be described. Finally the cheese-master of cheesiness is back with his lovely “Palm Saturdays EP” which features 3 diverse originals and a great remix by Christopher Rau, there’s nothing more to say!