Brett Johnson I Was Told There'd Be Cake EP

By now Holic Trax is one of the most assured house labels of the day. As such it makes sense that they turn to another well regarded house producer in Brett Johnson for their next EP. Johnson is an American who has excelled at every dance style over the years. With a classical bent to his tunes, he likes bump and groove and always serves up no nonsense jams on labels like Classic, Housewax and Visionquest. Here he excels with three new tracks as well as one collaboration with tech house legend CPEN. Sumptuous ?Slow Tide? is the slick opener and is the sort of soulful, expertly produced jam only a veteran could come up with. Smooth synths have a real sense of feeling, skipping drums bring the groove and a rich bassline recalls the work of Chi town great, Boo Williams. The delicious ?Music? is then more direct and physical, with scratchy perc and epic drums punching out a busy pattern. Glass tinkles and smeared pads soften the edges of this deep but jacking track The standout ?You Got Me Going Crazy? (Berlin Dub) then finds Brett teaming up with cult figure CPEN to excellent effect. It is a trippy and freaky late night tech cut with slinky lines, spooky vocals and real electronic funk in its bones. Sure to set ?floors on fire, it gets followed up by the joyous house skip, modern soul and bendy machine funk of ?Don?t Forget to Smile.? This expert EP is full of faultless sounds that exactly hit the house mark they go for. Drop them and watch the floor erupt!