While it may have played an important role in nurturing the acid house scene during early ‘90s Britain, it’s been a while since Manchester has been associated with electronic music that oozes straight-up hedonism. Along with the likes of fellow city resident Lone, however, Irish-born Krystal Klear could be an indication that the halcyon spirit of the Hacienda might be starting to seep back into Manchester’s dance floors. His debut solo effort, Tried For Your Love, is colored with the kind of boogie and funk so slick Don Draper could style his hair with it.
The title track is the key here, with the original mix and Hudson Mohawke’s version engaging in a mild-mannered tug-of-war across the EP, with one end doused in fluid New Jack Swing revivalism while the other sees Mohawke depart from his idiosyncratic off-kilter beats to take the track on a day-trip to Chicago circa 1986. Both cuts are fine house music specimens in their own way — the original boasting an effortlessly under-stated disco charm, the remix laying on some glistening piano stabs and some big drum builds to rub the track with a more overt ecstasy. Acting as moderators in this disarming power struggle are middle tracks “Boogie Wan” and “Dekryptics,” the former a ruminative gaze at the more subdued intricacies of funk, while the latter takes the listener by the hand and gently leads them back on to the dance floor with a sultry wink. Tried For Your Love is an EP that proves that, in modern-day Manchester, a “disco treat” doesn’t have to come emblazoned with a logo and cost five pound a pop from that shady bloke in the corner.
Oh wow this is great