- Ash Walk, the second 12-inch from Intercontinental Dance Organisation, or IDO, is a deep house record with lofty aspirations. In recent interviews, IDO's founders, Valentino Mora and Matthieu Amila, discussed the spiritual dimension of their label's music. Where some house records might express that with gospel vocals or church organs, Ash Walk's approach is meditative. Its three tracks are long and unhurried. Synth pads glide like an airplane's contrails over percussion with tranquilised delays and reverbs. Where IDO's last record could feel repetitive, Ash Walk's tracks flower more easily.
Mora is better known as the producer French Fries, whose music translates various styles—ghetto house, techno, UK bass, Jersey club—with enthusiastic literacy. In the soothing bass and percussion of Ash Walk, the urgency of his past work washes away. The new age of "Extravagate (Metaphysical Essence Mix)," a drumless version of the other B-side track, is as calm and spacious as the rainforest lagoon suggested by the birdsong and swirls of water. "Extravagate (Transfiguration Phase II)" preserves that sense of space in a house track, where woodblocks, hand drums, shakers and bass notes spin around each other in fluidly choreographed routines. Though that track and the serene A-side, "Ash Walk," have firm kick drums, their transportive atmospheres make the most impact.
TracklistA1 Ash Walk
B1 Extravagate (Transfiguration Phase II)
B2 Extravagate (Metaphysical Essence Mix)