Artist: Primmi
Title: Space Vox / Peacemaker
Label: Looq Records
By: Evan Arnett | 6 February 2006
Tracklist:

• A: Space Vox
• B: Peacemaker

Primmi "Space Vox / Peacemaker"

The inaugural single from Primmi a.k.a. Primoz Renko has arrived on the respected Looq label, already finding its way into the playlists of Nick Warren and Steve Gerrard.

A slick, catchy beat kicks Spacevox off; not too thick, but by no means minimal. A smooth synth chord filters in and breaks with a delayed radio voice into the full texture of the groove. An effects-laden hook of NASA recordings permeates the second half of the song, which rides nicely to its conclusion. This song exudes tremendous energy, and is certain to set dance floors the world over alight. The open hihats seem to drag the pace back a bit though, making me feel that the entire song would have worked much better if sped up a bit. This song is in Eb, and the tempo plods along fairly well at 128bpm, but sounds best when played closer to 132bpm. The slightly lower tempo does provide its own set of advantages though: it could be mixed more easily in a slower deep or tech-house set without affecting the timbre, but works best spend up in a faster progressive set. While no facet of this tune stands out so significantly as to make it extraordinarily memorable, what's there is solid, and will offer it a certain universality which should put it in the playlists of more than a few good DJs.

A light beat pulls us into "Peacemaker" at a familiar 128bpm. A bass line of straight 16th notes soon jumps in and establishes a basis for the style of track, as well as the key (of Bb). This song is deeper and moodier than its A-side counterpart, exhibiting some techno influences. A delayed vocal saying the words "get up" hops from speaker to speaker, but before it can grow stale, it is replaced by a short MC vocal hook. This song is effective and groovy but seems to suffer from being somewhat under-produced. It does change from beginning to end, it is just not enough to hold the discerning listener's interest completely all the way through. It is possible for a deep minimal progression to work well, but only when the source material is very strong.

Aside from the vocal samples, both these songs are fairly conservative in their writing, which makes them perfect to add a bit of safety, solidity, and familiarity to a set, but at the same time, one cannot help but wonder what this talented producer might be able to accomplish by taking a few more risks.