Innerflight Music procures another world class release, the Indebted & Love Funk EP featuring veteran DJ / producer / event organizer Luke Mandala and Dutch maestro Roger Martinez (GEM Records, Lost & Found) on remix duties. With an extensive back catalogue - from Booka Shade Records and Additech Records to his own Activated Records imprint - and over 14 years of DJ experience Luke’s commitment to perfection has seen him garner praise from some of dance music’s most seasoned elite. Stalwart figures from the likes of John Acquaviva to Treavor Moontribe (co-founder of the legendary Full Moon desert gatherings) have all sung Luke’s praise. If he’s not touring the world over or playing at festivals like Esthetic Evolution, Photosynthesis, and Beloved in his native northwestern USA you’ll find Luke toiling away in the studio. Whether he’s producing his signature festival-ready tech tracks or working on material under his chill-out moniker, Tingly, this is one artist that doesn’t stray far from the studio … and it shows.
For the Indebted & Love Funk EP Luke delivers two original tracks and an alternate version of “Indebted.” This track, like its fellow counterparts, resides in a similar sonic wave pool of atmospheric rhythms and exotic overtones. “Indebted” flexes a precise, calculative restraint but feels effortlessly organic at the same time, ebbing back and forth between tech and tribal house influences with ease. Dark, phasing synths and a rumbling low end create movement in the track, leaving not a second of this six minute long opus unused. Then for the Yearning Version Luke expands on the original, pushing the vocal to the forefront and bringing together texturized drums and prickly synths in this alternate, peak time take. Carrying on in a similar direction, “Love Funk” hangs on to Luke’s preference for dark twisted chords and complex progressions. Moulding frantic hi-hats and cold stannic percussion with a rugged heartfelt bass line, “Love Funk” emits a clear intuitive sensitivity that only years of experience can bring.
Last but not least, Roger Martinez rounds out the EP with a vigorous pulsing tech-house remix of “Indebted.” A member of the GEM Records crew, Martinez has been busily honing his brand of techno, also working on sound installations, ambient music under the Horizontal Excursions guise, and an acclaimed live show. For his remix, Martinez relies on a dry, scratchy kick drum and a standard four-to-the-floor blueprint, supplementing these with unexpected Indian tablas and ratcheting mechanical-like devices. These embellish the otherworldly qualities of the EP while staying true to his own musical perspective … effective, emotive tones that leave more than a little for the body to discover.