- Manchester duo Shafunkers have another crazy house release following up on the success of ‘Rhythm Sounds’ and ‘You Don’t See Me’. Heavily rotated by Deep Dish, James Zabiela, and Nic Fancuilli to name a few, it’s not difficult to understand why Cr2 Records, Choo Choo and Saved Records (amongst others!) have picked up this duo’s work previously. ‘Play Around’ is another slice of trademark Shafunker funky (and tribal) vocal house.
The radio edit will be a welcome edition to any house DJ’s Friday night lets-get-this-party-started set. A chunky tribal beat and a funky, cruisy riff sugarcoated with an echoed radio vocal, ‘Play Around’ will make you want to do just that. The lyrics scream fun and attitude, the instruments are quirky and the groove is lively. Verdict: Shafunkers offer a glimmer of hope to the fading funky house scene.
The Andy Slate remix is less vocal and more deep-tech. It’s got highly energetic Gameboy beats and a minimal-influenced breakdown that tails off into almost an acapella. To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t work for me as well as the remixes.
DBF offer up a housey rework that tantalises with electronics, tempting builds and eerie melodic breakdowns. Built over a raw garage loop, the garage band funk of this heavily-worked remix recalls Buick Project. An ideal warm up tune to get the crowd moving.
The two Mashtronic remixes are very similar: smooth, video-game-esque and mashed up. They both abuse the signature riff of original, merging them into punchy little basslines with energetic (and wholesome) production. The result is a mid-morning get-your-rave-on kind of effect: Play this to a sweatshop of gleaming bodies.
All in all, ‘Play Around’ is a more than worthy of a spin on anyone’s decks. A reminder that great music lives in all genres, all corners of the clubs, the place we flock to at the end of our week in the rat race, as we crawl onto the dancefloor and get set to play around…