Artist: Smight Presents Magic Shoe
Title: Weekend Work / Fresh Look
Label: Hellpass Records
By: Simon Jones | 3 April 2003
Tracklist:

• A: Weekend Work
• B: Fresh Look

Smight Presents Magic Shoe "Weekend Work / Fresh Look"

The sheriff is back in town! Herb Berkley and his sidekick Eric Reeves don their Magic Shoes once more after a Niche encounter featuring some Brain Walking (it's like Moonwalking, but with magic shoes which warp you into Smight's mind), and arrive in Hellpassville with two new projects to inject life into the town.

Intricate melodies and a deep bass groove introduce us to 'Weekend Work', an industrial style sound looping over and over in the distance backdrop before a series of intricate key changes sees the bass become more fluctuant and sweeping synths climb over the top, showering the soundscape with a soft ambience. It's almost like a symphony orchestra playing within a cavernous void, with the piano and melody outro oozing out like an Academy award winning movie score. Beautiful yet slightly moody. Darkness meets light, and the soundtrack to a place where these two contrasts meet as one.

'Fresh Look' is an altogether different kettle of fish, bubbling effects popping under a tight percussive groove. As the claps rise to the surface, the track moves along until a series of stabs and a delayed synth effect make ripples in the groove, allowing a light melody line to flutter through the centre of the track, and into a rattling outro that shimmers along like a rattlesnake, emitting a sweet symphony from it's tail.

Perhaps not the kind of material that will rock the dancefloor, as both tracks are based around a more subtle approach. Both tracks however, are well produced and showcase a different side of Magic Shoe in comparison to the their previous release on Niche. They seem to enjoy the contrast between darkness and light, and I'm sure you will too. Something different from the Hellpass label, but something well worth checking out.