- Dreamy downtempo and dubbed-out house from a key Mexico City artist.
- At least going by his records, Soos seems like an extremely chill dude. The Mexico City producer makes a style of unhurried, vaguely tropical dance music that seems designed for a beach chair and a cocktail with an umbrella in it. It's unmistakably retro, but in a timeless and creative way—I described a previous EP as "a dream situation where the trance Sasha collaborated with the Italian dream house Sasha." That should make Soos' influences clear: prog, ambient techno and laid-back house music, with a good sprinkling of dub thrown in on his new EP Mundo Cute.
This one lands on Tokyo label Mule Musiq, a long-standing source of atmospheric and often gentle house music. "Chula (Dance Mix)" starts things off with a stage-setting mix of whispered vocals, flute-like sounds and tendrils of 303 that wiggle like shiny little neon tetras in an aquarium. The title track is where the dub influences come in, built around a staggered but lightweight skank—and walking bassline—with an appropriately cutesy steel drum lead. It might be cringy in someone else's hands, but here, it brings to mind the "Under The Sea" sequence from The Little Mermaid set at Pikes Ibiza.
On the downtempo "Disc Jam (Dream Mix)," Soos zeroes in on the addictive dream house of early '90s Italy (catalogued by Young Marco's Welcome To Paradise compilations). It's both mystical and sexy, with undulating rhythms and little keyboard licks that must have sounded like the coolest thing on Earth in 1992. Not that it's all daydreaming of bygone years for Soos: "Cool Sbu" has a tunneling techno vibe that could fit into a Donato Dozzy set, while the proggy "Plants Biz" would be at home on a Radiant Love compilation.
With an irresistible melodic touch and a talent for creating chilled-out but still propulsive moods, Soos makes the kind of dance music that any fan of any genre could enjoy—and I mean that as the highest compliment possible.
Tracklist01. Chula (Dance Mix)
02. Mundo Cute
03. Disc Jam (Dream Mix)
04. Cool Sbu
05. Plants Biz
06. ? (Reprise)