- Following eleven EPs over the last half-decade, Two Armadillos, AKA Giles Smith and Martin Dawson, present the first of three more, the sum total of which will form Golden Age Thinking. As ever, a deep and purposeful house slant is present throughout, with the moods varying from the floor-focussed to the more intimate.
"Ronin" is the opening cut you probably already know and love: like a modern day reprise of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," it was surely designed to capture the feeling of driving on a motorway or riding on a train. That's how it comes over, anyway, with its chugging bottom end, rattling hits and frictionless 4/4 ellipses. "A Walk in the Park" on the other hand is mature; romantic even, with warm chord prods, rising synth plucks and hip-swinging hand claps placing you in the midst of a beneath-the-streets jazz club somewhere away from the hustle of everyday life. Closer "Another One (For Larry)" takes you somewhere different again. Slowly but surely, solemn minor chords are fleshed out with a trilling melody, and distant sleigh bells and a deft sprinkling of cosmic dust make sure the track ends up in a wholly more uplifting and optimistic place than where it began. Heartwarming stuff.
Tracklist A Ronin
B1 A Walk In The Park
B2 Another One....for Larry