Hooked

Hooked

Tiger Stripes [Liebe Detail]

9 August, 2007 | 3.11PM

• Written by: Lee Smith
• Filed under: Music Recommendations: liebe detail, tiger stripes

Two years since its inception, Hamburg’s excellent Liebe Detail label is now rapidly gaining the global plaudits it deserves.

Their admirably varied release schedule is always based on a split release from two separate artists, and has featured everything from Gabriel Ananda’s organic techno drama to Ed Davenport’s clean-line minimalism. 

Most importantly, they’ve always given equal billing to both established names and virtual unknowns, guaranteeing a constant source of exposure for their seemingly endless flow of talented new acts.

This time round, they’ve enlisted Swedish house head Tiger Stripes (aka Mikael Nordgren, previously of institutional house labels including Kingstreet, Ibadan and Francois K’s Wave) alongside fellow Hamburg resident Solomun, whose own Diynamic imprint is creating quite a stir of its own at the moment.

Solomun’s ‘Jungle River Cruise’ takes a journey deep into the Amazon, replete with South American production and tribal wails.

Building itself round a Holden-like melodic riff, it sails perilously close to a world music/techno fusion, but ultimately pulls it off without sounding contrived.

However, it’s Tiger Stripes’ ‘Hooked’ that’s the real winner here.

Making a distinct departure from the sultry grooves of his previous guises, Nordgren tweaks the slamming level to top notch with a surging, dramatic slice of taut peak-time techno.

Somehow, it keeps its house roots intact too, meaning that it’s as groovy as it is intense. Absolutely essential.

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