Tom Esselle Garibaldi EP

Tucked away in a now not-so-quiet corner of south east London, Wholemeal have been quietly, unobtrusively Getting Shit Done. Wholemeal Music’s freshman release hits the shelves this month featuring two cuts from YAM Records boss Tom Esselle and a hoofing remix from fellow south-Londoner West Norwood Cassette Library. Skilfully treading the line between House, Techno, and Jazz, the A-side, Until She Spoke is a superlative exercise in light-touc h sampling and devastatingly effective Rhodes work. It shuffles then stomps, hypnotises then elates, bringing together disparat e threads to create something for the head and the heart. The title track, Garibaldi, maintains the light-touch sampling thread and then takes it to a whole new plane of drum-driven dancefloor detonation. Twisting chord hits whirl around a savage interplay between bass and drums before dropping back to an elemental pounding, bypassing the brain and heading straight for the feet . Long time Wholemeal friend and serious contender for The Nicest Man In Music award Bob WNCL has very kindly picked up Garibaldi by the scruff of the neck, grafted an enormous pair of junglist balls onto it and kicked it screaming across t he dancefloor. This is about as peak-time as it gets. Wait for the wall of bass after the second drop, it’s enough to stop you breathing.