- DMC offers six shades of downtempo to kick off Josh Tweek's new label.
- Josh Tweek, better known as one half of the dynamic digging duo The Ghost, has a deep love of all things low and slow. His solo ventures, including his downtempo series Music Mix Show Unlimited and his Covid-era flirtation with livestreaming, run the gamut from proto-electro to Memphis rap, or from the stickiest dub to the chunkiest breaks. He's now started up a label to showcase his side hustle, tapping Liverpool producer DMC for the inaugural release on Sonido Chido.
DMC's previous records, on labels like Jooice and Art Of Dark, fall pretty clearly within the new minimal umbrella—lean drum programming with hints of electro and the occasional trance-esque arpeggio. But on Softly Spoken, he shows off a whole new side, including New Age pastiche ("We Become"), Susumu Yokota-style acid ("Feel It") and scratch science ("Remember"). My favorite is "Whisper Gold,'' which has everything I love in a downtempo track: live-sounding drums, fluttering arpeggios and just enough bass to get the hips moving. It's a cautious and beautiful moodsetter, whether you're brewing your coffee or easing the crowd onto the dance floor.