In the beginning, I must say that I have a long-term relationship with Quirk. I must say, that since their first record, I even got a signed card from Alexander Skancke, who was working at Bikini Waxx and sold my friend the record I asked to buy for me (which I didn’t know at the time). So, it’s kinda understandable, that I like the label, especially, lately, on their “hot streak”, as I would say. But I must add, that their newest one is over-the-top even for Quirk standards. Made alongside Henriku, we have here a complete story, mixed with great tracks. I won’t even start the review from our premiered one. We need to start from the A1.
With the name “New York Popcorn” (both – the A1 track and the EP) it’s easy to say, that the story will be living around NYC. And our opener is doing a nice piece of introduction, building some kind of suspense with its spooky atmosphere and constantly repeating “I wanna go to New York” male vocal samples. Add some bright pieces of trancey chords appearing unexpectedly – and we have the start of the story. Something is gonna happen. That other guy is not saying “No” to this question without a reason. I won’t make any spoilers on A2 – “Listen To This Frank” is a spoken word story about, well, arriving to NYC. And some other stuff, the narrator did in NYC. Do you want some more clues? Look at the vinyl cover (I’m giving you a wink right now).
With the words “How the wife and kids?” we’re jumping to the B1 – our premiere. “What Happened?” is even without all that backstory a great piece of track. A dark (I would say, grey), moody piece of NY garagesque tune. And all those samples of “What happened in New York, stays in New York” after all you heard on the A2 are making the story interesting, but at the same time, are not distracting you from the main line of percussion here. And those whispers in the background… I would definitely play this one even without the A-side. With it – damn, how nicely made it is!
“Piri Piri” is our last one today. 7 minutes of the tribalistic house with that voice that is turning into percussion too. Interesting twist. And, I think, we have some more connections to our main story here. But I’ll let you find all of them. Would be more interesting.
I was also told by Alexander, that each record will be sold with some interesting content inside (taking you back to the main story) – so, if you want more information – run to Juno, Deejay, Decks or wherever you’re buying your wax, digital premieres won’t help you here. Aren’t you interested after all?
More information on Henriku
Resident Advisor | Soundcloud | Instagram | Discogs
More information on Alexander Skancke
Facebook | Resident Advisor | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Instagram | Discogs
More information on Quirk
Facebook | Resident Advisor | Soundcloud | Instagram | Discogs
This article was written in Ukraine. Ukraine is in the middle of the war with Russia right now. Would be great if you could donate to the biggest Ukrainian volunteer fund here. Also, you can pick any music initiative, that is also trying to help from our list here. We’ll be stronger together.
