- With his label NDATL, Kai Alcé has carved out a niche to make any A&R rep envious—that is, work with Detroit's finest once a year on special-edition records destined for Discogs fetishism, and use the residual repute to release quality house music at a leisurely pace. The label's first issue of 2016, Javonntte's The Musical Stylings Of…, then, is business as usual, though certainly not in a languid way. The Detroit native, who has worked with Andrés and Amp Fiddler and toured as a dancer with Aretha Franklin, offers four tracks (and an instrumental) of buoyant, soul-forward deep house.
If continuousness and consonance are the vitals of smoothness, then this EP is a smooth one, and Javonntte seems intent on reminding listeners that a track can be both legato and slammin'. Apart from the techy "Keep Bouncin'," that combination is his strategy here. "Chaka's Revenge" is a late-night wrecker with a wailing diva (presumably Chaka Khan), a chopped-up boogie bassline and twinkly arpeggios buffing it to a sheen.
Perhaps most challenging in its agreeable tone is the EP's most distinct tune, "These Words," in which Javonntte sings in various permutations that "life could be so wonderful if you just let it." It has an air of intuitive ease about it, as if any old lyrics might have worked fine for this particular cut, but the sentiment remains an important one to preserve in house music—what dancer hasn't felt a similarly simple joy while under the spell of a good house groove? The repeated vocal refrain of "these words" is a nice counterpoint, acknowledging the pleasures available through simple repetition. The track's instrumental version proves as much with light Rhodes chords and swells of strings that are affecting on their own.
TracklistA1 Keep Bouncin'
A2 Chaka's Revenge
B1 My Life
B2 These Words
B3 No Words