Artist: Darko & Leeds
Title: Together / Moscow
Label: Mechanism Records
By: Simon Jones | 22 January 2003
Tracklist:

• A: Together
• B: Moscow

Darko & Leeds "Together / Moscow"

Mark O'Brien is already part of two highly regarded production outfits, namely Sleepfreaks alongside Paul Rogers, and Darko Vs Gainer alongside Chris Gainer, as well as his solo Darko work. Austin Leeds is both a producer in a solo capacity as well as alongside Martin Accorsi and Luke Chable as part of 21st Century Fux. Here Mark and Austin team up for the first Darko and Leeds single, which has been in the making for many months now, and now finally, 'Together' and 'Moscow' have been released.

You can tell straight away the Darko influence on 'Together', intricate percussion unfolding, and light chord stabs slowly dripping over the groove as deep house bassline emits from the centre of the mix. As a cut up vocal drops in over the top, the chords switch into lighter melody with subtle key changes occuring every few bars, an influence no doubt brought to the mix by Austin Leeds. Very different to anything the two have done as individuals, this is one the deep house heads will lap up, but for those expecting a bit more, then you might be better heading for the b-side..

'Moscow' moves away from the deep house vibe of the a-side towards a more traditional progressive tip, still keeping with the low bass, but adding some punch to the drums, as techy pads fill the holes between the drums and percussion. The track slowly moves along, building with sweeps moving from one side of the speakers to the other and layered chords introduce an ambience that remains for the rest of the track as it drifts along.

In contrast to most of the releases that have come previously on Mechanism, this one is a bit different, and is more of an indication of what ideas this new partnership has to offer. More work is apparently forthcoming on various labels to be announced, so keep an eye out for news of those in the near future.