Some tech house is content to be wallpaper for a Saturday night and some of it actually grabs you by the collar. Cash On Cash is firmly the second kind. Three names on the credit and somehow it doesn’t sound like a track built by committee. It sounds mean and focused. The groove is driving and slightly darker than the Toolroom norm, with a bassline that stabs rather than rolls, and a vocal hook that repeats the title until it stops being words and becomes rhythm. There’s a filtered, almost industrial texture running through the drop that gives it an edge most tech house sands off. I clocked the bass switch at 2:30 where it drops an octave and the whole track suddenly feels twice as heavy, a small move with an outsized payoff. It’s built for the moment in a set where the DJ wants to twist the mood a bit darker without losing the floor. Six minutes of relentless forward motion with just enough grit to keep it interesting. The kind of tool that quietly ends up in everyone’s crates.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.