Out now on Lower East is the debut release from Bred for Pleaasure, a duo comprising of South African producer Quinin Christian (notable for engineering the likes of Rudimental, Bondax and Gorgon City) and Canadian Vandermeer, who has released records on labels such as My Favorite Robot and Rawthentic Music over the years.
On pressing the obligatory right-facing triangle I was initially convinced that the opening, and subsequent vocal was “Better than sex” but that’s not surprising since, In 1989 I cooly sauntered into Castle Records in Loughborough, which is probably now either a mobile phone or coffee shop, and asked for a copy of ‘I drive a Jag’ by the Reynolds girls. Prior to that I was convinced that Irene Cara asked us to ‘Take our pants down and make it happen’ on the 1983 hit ‘What a feeling’ from Flashdance and years later would have my membership from the coolest music circle in Cirencester revoked when I confidently stated that Karl Hyde was saying “any reason for love” (Not ‘am an erasor of love’ – the antitheses of my understanding of the lyric in question) on cowgirl, from Dubnobasswithmyheadman, one of the greatest albums of the nineties.
So, with ‘better than sex’ running through my subconscious, I continued, unconvinced that I shouldn’t be somewhere else in the house. House is where this track is, and with remixes by Larry Heard AND Mr Fingers, both Pioneers of Deep Chicago House who interestingly not only share the same background, but also the same Gene Pool, mainly because they are the same person, this track offers something of the feeling of those dark and smokey late 80’s nights spent straining your ears to tenth generation analogue copies from Frankie Knuckles club, the Power Plant.
However, unlike those dirty-bassed and palanopsia-producing tracks, ‘Better than this”, with vocals by Aaron Soul (named due to the Head of Def Soul being unable to read his writing) whose minor entry into the world of R&B in 2001 (Ring Ring Ring) was either an attempt to follow the success of Craig Davids ‘Fill me in’ by changing the lyrics slightly or an ironic reply to his fellow Southampton-ite by singing over the same track about taboo sex, has been put through the inevitable garage-band sanitizer before being microwaved, rather than slow-cooked which has ensured that most hints of goodness, provided by the worthwhile ingredient of Larry Heard/Mr Fingers have been somewhat diluted, irradiated and finally served in a polystyrene cup with a hole in the bottom.
Better than this…well, there is.
However, take a listen, and if you disagree – it’s out now. Go buy it.
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