[Let’s Play House]

Since late 2009, as New York’s best (and only) free-floating, bi-weekly house and disco carousal, Let’s Play House has played happy host to international and indigenous talents at a range of venues throughout the NYC metro area. When wordsmith Nik Mercer and beatsmith Jacques Renault began LPH, their intention might just have been “good times” and not launching a Throne of Blood sub-label; but a quick look at the talented list of guests they’ve since booked — including the likes of Hunee, Bicep, Lovefingers, Lee Douglas, Horse Meat Disco, Cosmo Vitelli, Roy Dank, Brennan Green, and Morgan Geist, to name just a few — highlights the promising position they’re in to develop a catalog of interest. That’s something made obvious with their first release, Indoor Pool by Runaway, featuring remixes from Soft Rocks, Slow Hands and Beautiful Swimmers.

“Indoor Pool” finds Renault and Marcos Cabral (who have also run On The Prowl since 2009) pushing the line of Runaway “big tunes” they inaugurated with “Brooklyn Club Jam” into deeper and darker territory. The track begins with a slightly overcooked pulse, which is quickly followed by a foreboding ambiance, some agile house filigree, and a simple, snarling bass line. By adding and subtracting space in regular waves, Runaway give as much as they take with the original, leaving the conclusion up to the next track and its potential impact as open as your record bag. Slow Hands’ “Half Full” mix is a bit easier to trace, as it’s ultimately more “outdoor,” even “beachfront.” The ambient brooding of the original is soothed and smoothed out by anthemic piano chords over a funkier bass line, accompanied by more heartfelt instrumentation. What it loses in menace, it makes up for in personality, bringing those beautiful smiles you’d expect from beautiful swimmers. Both tracks on the B-side beef things up rhythmically, with Soft Rock turning in a bit of fun house water torture and Beautiful Swimmers oddly washing up exhausted somewhere between Jesse Saunders and Marcus Mixx. Overall, the quality and variety of Indoor Pool make it worth its weight and suggest a buoyant future for Let’s Play House.