• Basket
  • RA Store
  • Login / Register
  • Login
  • Register
Resident Advisor
×
Search
Submit
Did you mean
×
  • Resident Advisor
  • Magazine
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Features
    • Videos
  • Listings
    • Events
    • Clubs
    • Festivals
    • Photos
  • Music
    • Artists
    • New Tracks
    • DJ Charts
    • Podcasts
  • Search
  • Reviews
  • /
  • Albums

Head High - Home. House. Hardcore.

    • Label /
      Power House
      PH606
    • Released /
      March 2015
    • Style /
      Techno
    • Comments /
      39 / View
    • Rating /
      4.0/5
    • Previous
    • Next
    Head High - Home. House. Hardcore. Head High - Home. House. Hardcore.
    Head High - Home. House. Hardcore. Impeccable sound design, innovative arrangement and classy composition make René Pawlowitz's productions as sweet on the ears as any electronic music you're likely to hear. The records he releases through Power House aren't any different, but listening to them front-to-back in your living room makes about as much sense as chewing on a wad of bay leaves—potent and direct, they're meant to add spice to DJ sets, not sit solo. Home. House. Hardcore., an official mix made up solely of Pawlowitz's Power House material, puts his aliases Head High and WK7 into a more approachable package.

    The music itself, spanning releases from 2010 to the present, sounds as good as ever. As Shed, Pawlowitz tends to push boundaries, but on many of his other aliases, Head High and WK7 especially, he makes a point of not reinventing the wheel. But by intentionally skirting brilliance, he tends to arrive there anyway. You'd be hard-pressed to find harder-hitting drums anywhere in the business—gnarled by distortion and punctuated by claustrophobic kicks, they're as sharp as industrial diamonds, and they leave little room for standing still. On WK7's "Avalanche," a ride cymbal pumps over a fathoms-deep bass drum, both compressed to delightfully monstrous proportions. You hear the technique across this corner of Pawlowitz's discography, though there's also a softer side to plenty of Power House's releases. Megatrap, the excellent Head High album from last summer, lightened the load by stuffing ebullient melodies into the workmanlike rumble. In lesser hands, all this stagecraft could come off as oppressive or cheesy; they sort of do in Pawlowitz's, too, but he has so much style and confidence as a producer that you're willing to follow him just about anywhere.

    On Home. House. Hardcore., you'll find no complicated, computer-aided, stem-blended mixing—in fact, you may spot the occasional nudge of the CDJ platter (never to the point of being sloppy, but enough to remind you there's a human being on the other end of this mix). What we get are just the tracks, artfully sequenced and paced to keep your head furiously nodding. The mix presents the tracks roughly in chronological order, though one new cut sneaks in: "More Music," a surprisingly light-footed and dreamy WK7 cut that recalls the glory days of Pawlowitz's dormant Wax alias. Home. House. Hardcore. asks you to take in a lot of an admittedly brutal aesthetic with hardly a moment to come up for air. But it's a great way in for the uninitiated, and the equivalent of a bucket of ice water poured over the head for anyone pumping up for a long, sweaty weekend of raving.
    • Published /
      Fri / 24 Apr 2015
    • Words /
      Jordan Rothlein
    • Share
    • Tracklist /
      01. Head High - Hex Pad
      02. Head High - It's A Love Thing (Piano Invasion)
      03. Head High - It's A Love Thing (Power Cut)
      04. WK7 - Avalanche
      05. WK7 - Higher Power (Original Mix)
      06. WK7 - Higher Power (Hardcore PCK Mix)
      07. Head High - Rave (Dirt Mix)
      08. WK7 - Do It Yourself
      09. Head High - Keep On Talking (Dirt Mix)
      10. Head High - Megatrap (Real Mix)
      11. Head High - Power Seat
      12. WK7 - More Music
      13. Head High - Megatrap (Mix Mix)
      14. Head High - Hardcore
    0/
  • Popular reviews

    • 20 comments

      Hunee - Hunchin' All Night

    • 26 comments

      Daniel Avery - Song For Alpha

    • 4 comments

      DGTL Amsterdam 2018: Five key performances

    • 28 comments

      DJ Koze ‎- Pick Up

    • 18 comments

      Regal / Amelie Lens ‎- Involve 020

    • 93 comments

      DJ Healer - Nothing 2 Loose / Prime Minister Of Doom - Mudshadow Propaganda

    • 12 comments

      Krystal Klear ‎- The Division

    • 8 comments

      Bangface Weekender 2018: Five key performances

    0/
  • Comments loading

    0/ #276640
    • More on Power House

      Power House

      Distributed label by Hardwax, Berlin (Germany)
      View the full label profile

    • Reviews

      • 11 comments

        WK7 - Rhythm 1

      • 4 comments

        WK7 - Washer

      • 57 comments

        Head High - Megatrap

    0/
  • More on Head High

    • Head High
      Add to favourites

      [Power House]
      View the full artist profile

    News

    • Tue, 17 Oct 2017

      1 comments

      Jackmaster to play Sundays At Phonox

      Head High, Harri & Domenic and Peach are among the guests for the Scottish DJ's four-week stint at the London club.

    • Tue, 01 Nov 2016

      67 comments

      RA's In Residence series arrives in London for one-off party with fabric and The Hydra

      Jeff Mills, Ben UFO, Head High and DJ Stingray will play the #saveourculture event on December 17th.

    • Mon, 24 Oct 2016

      6 comments

      Dixon headlines Pitch Music & Arts in Melbourne

      Ben Klock, Recondite, Omar-S and Henrik Schwarz have also been announced for the new festival in March.

    • Thu, 06 Oct 2016

      1 comments

      Rekids calls up Head High and Ryan Elliott to remix David Morales's 'Don't Go'

      The US house legend's recent single has been reworked twice.

    • Thu, 11 Aug 2016

      Post a comment

      Joy Orbison, Kowton, Soundstream play Tw!tch in Belfast

      The Irish promoter is celebrating its tenth anniversary this October.

    • Tue, 05 Jul 2016

      6 comments

      Head High remixes Paul Woolford's Special Request

      Detboi has also been tapped for the new remix EP.

    • Tue, 16 Feb 2016

      Post a comment

      Tief brings Head High, Hunee, Tim Sweeney to London

      The London promoter will host seven events between now and May.

    • Mon, 04 Jan 2016

      10 comments

      Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer remix Luke Vibert

      KiNK and Head High have also been tapped to rework tracks from the English producer's recent Kerrier District album.

    Reviews

    • 3 comments

      Various - Kerrier District Remixes

    • 39 comments

      Head High - Home. House. Hardcore.

    • 57 comments

      Head High - Megatrap

    0/
    • RA
    • Copyright © 2018 Resident Advisor Ltd.
    • All rights reserved
    • Privacy & Terms
    • Resident Advisor /
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Jobs
    • RA Events

    • RA Tickets /
    • My Tickets
    • Ticketing FAQ
    • Resale
    • Sell tickets on RA
    • Submit event

    • Apps /
    • RA Guide
    • RA Ticket Scanner
    • Elsewhere /
    • Watch on YouTube
    • Follow on Facebook
    • Listen on Apple Music
    • Stream on Spotify
  • RA is also available in Japanese. 日本版
    • RA on YouTube
    • RA on Facebook
    • RA on Twitter
    • RA on Google+
    • RA on Instagram
    • RA on Soundcloud