Now Soma are a hundred singles old and on firing form (see Funk D'Void), someone at the Glasgow HQ took the wise move of deploying their secret weapon: Maas.
While Slam can batter you with their heavy dancefloor artillery, Ewan Pearson aka Maas has long since taken the gentle subversion route. His re-mixes have become a byword for 'dead good;' as diverse as they are fonky.
Here his rerubs of people like Leftfield, Two Banks Of Four and Chaser are all gathered on one CD. The only omission - to these ears - is his DJ Rap remix. But we'll let that slide, given the Red Planet meets Jazzanova funk Maas - no relation to Timo - is capable of.
Attention to detail seems Maas's byword, with his tracks built like other peoples but sounding better. Leftfield's 'Dub Gusset' gets soothed into tech house heaven. To mix Christian Zimmerman he flips into his chilled 'World Of Apples' alter ego. Damn fine it is too. Two Banks Of Four's West London downtempo jazz paen to sunrise '...Rooftops' gets transformed into a gem pitched somewhere between Bushwacka! and Joe Claussell.
This is tastier than maple syrup. Come feast yourself.
by Martin Clark