- A few weeks back, DJ History's Bill Brewster took to Facebook trying to get a track ID for an untagged file he had been sent. After a few dead ends, it turned out to be the work of Zmatsutsi, the band of Joe Gill, Tim Hutton and Heidi Armitage. (Gill was known to be behind the party and label Joe's Bakery, but the other names are unfamiliar.) That track, "Spanish City," was from Zmatsutsi's first record and the second release from Balearic Social.
Mogadishu's stirring four tracks are familiar shapes twisted into new shadows. The title cut may namecheck Somalia's capital city, but it oozes tawdry tropical vibes. Armitage's heavily treated panting and sneering brings to mind singer Linda Di Franco as a dominatrix. Her voice mixes with the clean guitar upstrokes and Gill and Hutton's squiggly, low-slung synths to make for an intoxicating track. "Spanish City" and "Les Europeenes" boast crisper drum programming, but the murky synth stabs, wiry guitar lines and Compass Point-style chimes keep the music balanced between Balearic and dark disco. "Dark Eyes" closes the EP on a darker note, the track's extra space giving it more menace and heightened sexual tension. As Armitage puts it on "Mogadishu," "Be on the right side of sleazy," a hissed command that the group obeys to racy results.
TracklistA1 Mogadishu
A2 Spanish City
B1 Les Europeennes
B2 Dark Eyes