This record is incredibly sexy – something that never goes out of style and inevitably gets better with age. Knowing nothing about Urulu and Steve Huerta, hearing the music and observing track names like “Laura Don’t Touch That” and “Settle Back Easy Jim,” it was my natural assumption these two were seasoned producers. Nope. Their releases, both individual and collaborative, go back less than five years! What’s not surprising is Dirt Crew finding fresh talent making timeless music.
The pair found success with a release back in 2013 called “Things I Didn’t Mean.” Now they’ve relocated from California to Berlin, which must have been a smart move because this record is leaps and bounds ahead of their past work in my opinion. It’s smooth flutes and pianos paired with dirty, gritty beats. It’s airy atmospherics combined with subtle, mechanical noise. People don’t stumble into making records like this. It’s just pure talent driven by mature taste and sensibilities.
In addition to sexy I’d say there’s a very spiritual sense to these tracks, and that makes “Katsu Dub” the icing on the cake. It’s a slinky, tribal number that will probably end up in my Ambient folder and I love that. It’s a new folder for me thanks to a recent pattern of EPs that include a one-off song not meant for the club, but is equally exciting. Just another sign that great producers and labels are less interested in recapturing previous success, as they are in just making great art and seeing what happens.
