UPFRONTBEATS

For their next release, Moon Harbour welcome a new artist to the family in the form of Athens based Greek producer, Vangelis Kostoxenakis. Kostoxenakis has made waves with his productions on Snatch!, Suara and Kling Klong, all under an array of aliases. Something of a perfectionist, his formal studies of sound design and music technology have allowed him to conjure his own unique takes on tech house. He also runs his own label Talk of the Town, and here proves he is not one to follow trends.

Opening his account is the perfectly driving ‘Dig It’, which powers along with rock solid kicks as the muffled chatter of a party atmosphere is off in the distance. Filters, fills and razor sharp hi hats all pepper the groove and a real raw energy pervades throughout. The excellent ‘Hip It’ then looks to classic US garage for a bit of sweet swing style, with air raid sirens going off and amping up the energy to rave-y levels.

The freaky ‘Get High’ is a busy brew of drilling synth stabs, police sirens and punchy kicks. Rolling snares, skewed chords and clipped vox all get sprinkled into the mix and mean this one is restless and energetic, keeping you on your toes throughout. Last but not least, ‘Jack Attack’ is an airy tech groove with cosmic keys raining down between thundering stabs as a vocal encourages you to jack. It’s stuffed with ideas and slick by design.

Inventive, off kilter and filled with real world samples, these are playful, high functioning tracks that hit the mark each and every time.

• FB: facebook.com/VangelisKostoxenakis
• Twitter: twitter.com/VanKostoxenakis
• Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/vangeliskostoxenakis
• Beatport: beatport.com/artist/vangelis-kostoxenakis