Like the other two destinations that Luca Bacchetti refers to on previous Wagon Repair releases, Brooklyn and India, Kwazulu in South Africa seems like a boisterous and frenetic kind of place. It’s the sort of image that fits well with Luca Bacchetti’s style.
To date, Bacchetti has made a habit of instilling each element in his tracks with energy and independence that makes the end result feel downright organic. ‘Night Over Kwazulu’ is very much the same, and in some ways this lends it charm. Unfortunately, too little is done to support the excellent, big hearted tribal drum pattern, and what could have become another Bacchetti tune that interweaves strong-headed, living parts instead comes across as merely a good tool with a few strains of unsettling vocals and an undistinctive horn melody lazily thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, willfully haphazard sounding production is very different from plain old haphazard production, and ‘Night Over Kwazulu’ skews strongly towards the latter.
The flip is stronger. Lee Van Dowski doesn’t try to reinvent ‘Rolling Brooklyn’, which is good because the original did such a good job of nailing the formula that ‘Kwazulu’ tries unsuccessfully to recreate. Instead, Van Dowski delivers a deft retouch that straightjackets the original into a smoothly progressing format with a hint of the neo-trance of tracks like ‘The Last Bounce’.
Both cuts here are playable, but neither stand out much in a release that is decent digs but well below the best for both artists.
Buy Luca Bacchetti - Night Over Kwazulu at
  
Tracklist: Luca Bacchetti - Night Over Kwazulu
A1 Night Over Kwazulu
B1 Rollin Brooklyn (Lee Van Dowski's Monday Turbulence Mix)
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