Why does a vocal loop that says almost nothing end up stuck in your head for a week? Cause That’s The Way runs on exactly that, a four-word sample flipped over a bumping tech house groove until it stops being words and becomes rhythm. Saliva Commandos keep the whole thing refreshingly uncomplicated: a fat bassline, a crisp clap, and a loop doing lazy circles over the top. It is peak-time filler in the best sense, the connective tissue that keeps a set breathing between the bigger moments, and every good DJ needs a crate full of exactly this. The groove has a rubbery give in the low end that keeps it feeling alive, and that is the whole difference between functional house that works and functional house that drags. Saliva Commandos have been turning out this unfussy, rolling sound for a while, and the craft is in the groove itself, how much life they wring from so few moving parts. Drop it third in a set and the floor fills before anyone quite clocks why.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.