Out now via Waze & Odyssey‘s specialty label, W&O Street Tracks, Walker & Royce‘s new EP Wakey Wakey/Gimme is particularly strange. Teetering on a tightrope pulled between tech house and techno, the Brooklyn duo finds themselves in an adventurous balancing act where the defined lines of where the two subgenres start and end are faded. And in what could be seen as a power play which has them falling more in line with their sound as of late, especially with current releases on labels such as This Ain’t Bristol and Pets Recordings, their most recent and absolutely valiant effort further cements them as the underground DJs that underground DJs rave on about.
“Wakey Wakey” is the more hardcore of the two. Bringing a heat similar to hot Dirtybird commodities like Billy Kenny and Will Clarke, as they each specialize in left-field, bass driven wonkiness, “Wakey Wakey” expertly employs synth stabs pinned with dynamic tension which goes up and up and up to new heights. It literally has ‘warehouse vibes’ plastered all over it in permanent ink.
“Gimme,” on the other hand, while it’s plethora of sawing synths outdo the other edit on the EP, has a much more toned down appeal. Yes – much of the track is spent in a heavy tech groove. However, midway through, the song bottoms out into a lush, harmonious disco vibe giving the track extra bite for when it switches at the final drop. In many ways, this track is the one which sees Walker & Royce embracing their inner electro-rock God channeling the edginess of acts such as Soulwax or older Jokers of the Scene. Not quite techno, not quite tech house, but an amalgamation of the many influences present in a scene as diverse as Brooklyn, “Gimme” is what ties the EP together.
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