Little Monster

Description

San Francisco’s 21 st century take on disco has long tended towards the cosmic and psychedelic, a reflection of the Bay Area’s long association with trippy, mind-altering music. Over the years, Leng Records has periodically dived into these fertile waters, delivering inspired slabs of cosmic-minded and dub-flecked excellence from 40 Thieves and, more recently, Marshall Watson and Cole Odin. It’s to Watson, a long-serving producer and sound designer whose work has previously appeared on labels including Sprechen, Shades of Sound, Seven Villas, Italians Do It Better, Highpoint Lowlife and NuNorthern Soul, that Leng has turned this time around. It marks his first solo appearance on the imprint and lands two years on from his inspired Odin collaboration, Voyager. ‘Little Monster’ is Watson at his most potent, club-focused best. Built around rock-solid disco drums and a deliciously dubby, low-slung bassline, the track slowly builds via waves of intergalactic electronics, spaced-out and echoing vocal samples, audible nods to cosmic rock and bursts of starry synth melodies. Thickening and increasing in effects-laden intoxication as it progresses, ‘Little Monster’ not only lives up to its name but also cements Watson’s growing reputation as one of 21st century cosmic disco’s most distinctive talents. Fittingly, the accompanying remix comes from Leng regulars and fellow San Francisco residents 40 Thieves. Delivering a genuinely epic, near nine-minute excursion, the veteran collective drag Watson’s inspired original mix further towards Daniele Baldelli style dub disco-meets-Afro-cosmic territory. Expect bolder, funkier bass, echoing synth motifs, eyes- closed electric guitar solos, echoing synth snippets and wild, sustained organ chords. It’s cosmic disco in dub… and the perfect accompaniment to Watson’s future cosmic disco classic.