- Laidback house and psychedelic prog from a master of melody.
- Mic Newman's discography as Fantastic Man is a miniature time capsule of dance music from the past decade. He broke through from the blogosphere in the early 2010s with some deep, disco-inflected house, before making tribal and acid tunes. He's now settled into a groove of trance and New Age-ish soul searching (not to mention the occasional downtempo dalliance). But as zeitgeist-aligned as all these genres are, Newman has never chased trends. Instead, it's a low-key evolution, part of his quest to find the perfect melody. His latest EP, Visions Of Dance Vol. 2,, comes pretty close to catching that dragon across four tracks that combine neon synth work with laidback and loose drum programming.
Everything that makes Newman's music so moreish is in the first track. Rolling breakbeat? Yep. Bird calls? You bet. Psyclobin synth lines that bury their way into your neocortex? Uh-huh. Vintage piano house chords? Check. Oh and did I mention the siren and vocals? This is the sort of thing you should hear up and down the Adriatic all summer. The same is true of "Hyper:Sonic" which, at 136 BPM, is the only track that comes close to the current tempos du jour. Even at this speed, things have a decidedly Pina Colada-and-chill vibe to them thanks to the swing of the hand drums and the lower key melodies.
The B-side is less boat cruise and more Cafe Del Mar. "West Coast" is particularly groovy and understated, by Newman's standards anyways, with a slow burning acid line that cuts through the sunset chords and vocal scatting of fellow Melbourne artist Marli. This is precisely what Newman does so well—whether he's making prog or downtempo, he brings a breezy Balearic sensibility to his productions. While it may feel like everyone and their grandma is playing with these sounds, no one is making records that are both as catchy and weird as Newman.
Tracklist01. Beyond Control
02. Hyper.Sonic
03. Sparticle Boom!
04. West Coast