Tennis - Make It Good

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  • Tennis is Manfredi Romano who, alongside Tale of Us and Thugfucker, runs Italy's Life & Death. The label has shown the same sort of versatility as Visionquest in its early releases, and never was that comparison more apt than on this EP, where slick and sultry pop house beats sway to and fro under intimate and whispered male vocals. The first original track is the more engaging of the two, mainly for the way the vocal sounds a little less heartbroken and more devil-may-care than the somewhat vulnerable flip, "Monocraft (Your Love Is Alright)." Both songs are airy and clean in design, with hints of everything from goth to prog rock smeared within their louche, mid-tempo frameworks. Remixing "Monocraft..." is a heavyweight selection of producers including Larry Heard. On both his efforts the aim is simple—to stretch things out from left to right before upping the dub quota, while Tale of Us go the other way. Their digital bonus remix is a stark, often beatless rework that floats on sombre pads, spluttering into life only occasionally when glitchy sounds and sharp claps cut through the otherwise swollen ambiance. Finally, Spectral Sound's Ryan Elliott goes straight for the jugular by building his re-work on slapping hits and flat-footed house kicks. It feels like he's building toward a techno peak for the whole duration of the track, but it never quite comes. Instead you're left wanting, which is no bad thing.
  • Tracklist
      01. Make It Good 02. Monocraft (Your Love Is Alright) 03. Make It Good (Larry Heard Vocal Dub) 04. Make It Good (Larry Heard Vocal Remix) 05. Make It Good (Ryan Elliott Remix) 06. Make It Good (Tale Of Us Remix)
RA