Albums
November: 18 albums you need to hear this month
Pangaea, Romare, Mandar and more
Mandar 'Mandar' (Oscillat Music)
The debut album from Mandar’s pan-continental trio of France’s Lazare Hoche, Denmark’s SAM and Amsterdam-based Malin Genie is a 95-minute long opus that gives full range to their sprawling house epics. It’s sensual, lithe and pulls off the neat trick of working the dancefloor yet still hitting the spot on the bus to work. ‘Another Joint’ is a prime example, its brutal kicks and fizzing hi-hats offset by deep synth swells and P-Funk bass keys. Mandar pay homage to breakbeat throughout, as the gargantuan, hypnotic ‘Ascend’ readily attests, while ‘Sequence 25’ shows an adroit handling of ’70s-style analogue synth jams. But as the crunching, jazz-flecked ‘Else’ shows, Mandar’s prime territory is pure, unadulterated deep house.
8/10
