Shortcuts – Art Of Tones, Lewis McCallum

I remember when Ludovic Llorca’s 2001 album New Comer came out of F Communications, at the height of the “French Touch” era. It still is a great album, but it’s been rather silent around the Llorca project. Since 2005 Ludovic has been working under the Art Of Tones monniker however, and he just released a new 3-track EP on the prolific Room With A View label.

The presh sheet calls The World As I Live It “a kind of vitaminised version of Mr Parrish’s Ugly Edits” and that’s not far from the truth: a long and slow-evolving disco stomper. The highlight for me is Breaking Bad, an incredibly deep banger, filled with lush keys and a great buildup. It can easily stand next to some of the best tunes Jimpster has ever released. The Argument finally features clever use of samples, and is backed by the same powerful 500hp drive that runs throughout the whole EP. It’s simple: if you dig deep house music, you need to get this.

Listen to the EP on Soundcloud or buy it straight from the source here.

This is the sophomore album from New Zealand multi-instrumentalist Lewis McCallum, after Wake in 2007. He also plays the saxophone in Opensouls, the NZ band that also brought us Julien Dyne, and released a 12″ on Antipodean Records. And you can’t get around it, Lewis’s sound closely resembles the style of fellow kiwi Mark De Clive-Lowe. But mind you, it’s not a carbon copy at all.

Expect a whole lot of headnoddin’ beats and some broken beats, overlayed with a whole rack of synths in a splendid and dense production. A lot of vocal guest appearances as well, from the likes of Tama Waipara, Cherie Mathieson, Mara TK and more. Really a great album that deserves your attention!

Available on iTunes and several other stores.