- Taylor Freels extends his tech house Midas touch on some fresh, '90s-flavored tracks.
- On paper, "Origins Of Telluria," from Taylor Freels' debut EP as Liquid Earth, is an unlikely hit. The track isn't much more than a sleepy loop where squiggly bass, a modulated arpeggio and an indecipherable robotic vocal swim over crisp breaks at 129 BPM. But I'll be damned if that unassuming gem wasn't one of the catchiest tracks of 2019 (and I've got iTunes receipts to prove it). The track cemented a change of direction for the California producer. Under his Urulu alias, Freels had built a reputation for breezy and nostalgic house on labels like Voyage and Tartelet, but his final Urulu record, as Andrew Ryce pointed out, was honing in on "tech house with a twist." The Liquid Earth project picks up where that EP left off, and his latest for Kahari Oyster Cult continues a run of analogue earworms that pop with an added citrus twist.
Freels' zest and cheekiness is what sets his records apart from the growing field of tech house revivalists. On "Scope Zone," Freels leaves the 80s for a tour de force of the 90s, offering an almost chronological tour of the decade. We start with the occasional breakbeat, meet a nearly progressive lead synth line,and end our night with some jazzy deep house chords. Youandewan's flip is a bit more restrained, but only just. He chops the run time, ups the BPM over a four-on-the-floor grid and taps into some of the euphoric melodies he's been reaching for as of late—the type that gives off the feel of a New Age guru pontificating after a liter of cold brew.
Freels' trajectory from pillowy deep house to bouncy tech house is one he shares with a crop of Californian producers including Gene On Earth and Huerta. All three have been responsible for some of the most exciting (and wiggly) tech house these past few years, helping pull the genre out of meme notoriety and back into the Funktion-Ones of your favorite underground club. Freels' Liquid Earth project is essential to this narrative, his modular jams remaining light and breezy with a needed infusion of Los Angeles sunshine. Scope Zone continues the hot streak and, if his Butter Side Up mix from nearly two years ago is any indication of what's to come, we're only at the tip of the iceberg.
Tracklist01. Scope Zone
02. Scope Zone (Youandewan Remix)