MAX ESSA レコード& CD

Review: Balearic disco maestro Max Essa has named his latest EP in honour of "Barkhan Dunes" - those wind created, crescent shaped sand dunes often found in deserts. Quite how this fits with the music on offer isn't explained, though the Balearic-minded music offered up is excellent. Check first "The Price You Pay (For Loving That Way)", an arpeggio-driven slab of sun-kissed nu-disco/Balearic house fusion rich in life-affirming Rhodes chords, twinkling synth lines and delay-laden saxophone solos. "Kites At Nemoto Beach" is a gently unfurling ambient soundscape full of drowsy vocal harmonies, while closing cut "Sundowning" sees Essa wrap glistening guitars and thickset synth bass around a bubbly mid-tempo drum machine rhythm.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


Balearic disco maestro Max Essa has named his latest EP in honour of "Barkhan Dunes" - those wind created, crescent shaped sand dunes often found in deserts. Quite how this fits with the music on offer isn't explained, though the Balearic-minded music offered up is excellent. Check first "The Price You Pay (For Loving That Way)", an arpeggio-driven slab of sun-kissed nu-disco/Balearic house fusion rich in life-affirming Rhodes chords, twinkling synth lines and delay-laden saxophone solos. "Kites At Nemoto Beach" is a gently unfurling ambient soundscape full of drowsy vocal harmonies, while closing cut "Sundowning" sees Essa wrap glistening guitars and thickset synth bass around a bubbly mid-tempo drum machine rhythm.

Review: The UK's Max Essa resides in Tokyo these days and is one of the city's leading nu-disco purveyors. We're particularly fond of his 2010 full length "White Shoes Blue Dreams". While usually releasing on isitbalearic..? or his own Jansen Jardin imprint (which he runs with Motoyoshi Shimakazi), he now appears on Palms & Charms, a new Tokyo/Hong Kong joint effort run by Samuel and Barnaby Bruce. "Blame It On Rea" starts in typical Essa Style: warm '80s strings, funky guitar licks and epic slow burning arpeggios that sound like the perfect accompaniment to Crockett and Tubbs veering down Nikki Beach chasing bad guys on Miami Vice. "Body Time" is far more uptempo with its Italo influences worn firmly on its sleeve. There's more epic retro sounding synths on this retrovert nu-disco anthem. Finally "Keep On Truckin'" is all hands in the air, summery balearic business that does throwback sounds as good as any of the best of them at the moment, namely Tuff City Kids or Love On The Rocks.