Han Haak – Insipid Town (Selador)


Hanโ€™s baak! The mysterious London-based producer Han Haak returns to Selador after something of a gap following his awesome โ€˜Redemptionโ€™ EP on Sudbeat a year ago, flanked by remixes from Robert Babicz, Dave Seaman, and Ki Creighton & Makanan.

โ€˜Insipid Townโ€™ attacks with delightfully punchy percussion, giving DJs plenty to play with before fierce growls and a wicked bassline let their presence be felt. Urgent bleeps sound the alarm as the track powers into the breakdown, where Han Haak creates a mini-โ€˜Rezโ€™, with electrifying and hypnotic synths, until the kick-drum thunders back to life. Itโ€™s really simple, keeping the number of elements to a minimum, but itโ€™s so, so effective โ€“ brilliant stuff from Han Haak. Kicking off the trio of heavyweight remixers, we have the master and the man behind possibly Seladorโ€™s strongest release to date, Robert Babicz. His take on Han Haakโ€™s track is nicely understated, with cool acidic underpinnings, a clever use of the growls from the original, and a trademark Babicz groove giving the remix plenty of floor-power, while a dreamy, melodic quality gives it a quite different flavour overall. The acid licks intensify as the track progresses, leading to a spellbinding breakdown and an explosive finale. Seladorโ€™s own Dave Seaman makes his first appearance on the label since casually dropping their huge 50th release back in August. His remix of Han Haakโ€™s track is dark, percussive, and heavy, with a huge, key-shifting bassline motoring to life around the minute and a half mark and commanding attention for most of the rest of the track, while otherworldly loops and morse-code bleeps keep up. Thereโ€™s not much let up here โ€“ the track just keeps coming at you, Seaman seriously weaponising the bassline in the second half of the track. Finally, Ki Creighton & Makanan offer up the sequel to their awesome remix of Steve Parryโ€™s โ€˜Apricityโ€™ earlier in the year with a characteristically bouncy tech-house version of โ€˜Insipid Townโ€™. which pitches a churning bassline against strong percussion and cool stabs, before working in twisted interpretations of Han Haakโ€™s ideas to great effect. The dual-snare-build in the middle of the track is clearly designed to absolutely take the roof off โ€“ itโ€™s really well conceived and executed, and itโ€™s bound to do just that.

Four more winners from Selador here, with Han Haakโ€™s original remaining my personal favourite, though with Robert Babiczโ€™s remix hot on its heels. Essential.


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