The Good Hado EP from Kyle Hall on his own Forget The Clock label delivers four tracks of raw and real deep house. Each tune follows a similar trajectory: Hall establishes an uncompromising house beat, adds a few key elements — dreamy synth washes, functional basslines, the merest amount of synth sweetening — and then rinses them out over the course of the track.
The drums here are lean, efficient, with the faint aroma of MPC to them, and Hall generates the maximum quantity of funk from minimal elements; there’s no percussive flab here at all. On the first track “Moveable” it’s a simple distorted kick and snare combo, the shaker low and murky in the mix, while on track 2 “In Ya Mind” the drums are cleaner with a bouncier snare pattern, a little click sample and skipping hats. The entire EP is built upon direct, un-fussy, highly-efficient rhythms that are totally house, with each beat feeling completely bespoke.
Hall then chooses his synth parts, bass sounds and samples carefully so that they perfectly compliment each other sonically but to my ears, he also performs another clever little trick in how he selects his musical parts too. The combination of Moog-ish bass, synth chord washes and electronic funk unconsciously recalls much that is great in black music from the last few decades, Hall’s chosen sonic palette conjuring up that futurist, spacey, electronic-soul musical tradition that stretches from seventies jazz-funk through to Detroit techno and beyond.
Kyle Hall: Good Hado EP (Forget The Clock / 12″ Vinyl / Digital)
1. Kyle Hall: Movable (05:07)
2. Kyle Hall: In Ya Mind (Bonus track) (06:39)
3. Kyle Hall: Turquoise Wave (05:05)
4. Kyle Hall: Weed or Majik (06:22)
⚪️ Disclosure Statement: This record was not submitted as a promo.
