React' is Split Secs' first record of 2015 and the year's first release from the LA duo's Machine Limited imprint.
Composed of Alexandre Mouracade a.k.a SONNS and Travis Kirschbaum (TK DISKO), Split Secs has put out
material on labels such as Throne Of Blood, Kompakt, and Jolly Jams. They've also crafted remixes for Mark E's
Merc label, BPitch Control, Remain, Waze & Odyssey, Future Classic, Pacific Horizons, Clouded Vision, On The
Prowl.. etc.
React' further confirms Split Secs' capabilities in creating all things tough & funky. As usual, Alex and Travis walk
a fine line towards the light, but veer dangerously and deliciously into thee dark. The original mix of React' is
deep house in the classic sense of the genre, a pulsing bassline, which Marshall Jefferson would be proud of,
conspires with rolling drums, drifting atmospherics, a chant repeatedly intoning react' and an ominous, but
extremely sexy, spoken, Italian vocal courtesy of Alona — the sometime chanteuse for 40 Thieves, who carried
out vocal duties on Machine Limited's first release, Slave,' also by Split Secs.
The package comes with three remixes, two by Indonesian producer Jonathan Kusuma, whose Gong 3000' EP
appeared on Cosmo Vitelli's I'm A Cliché label in 2014, and the other by Hardway Bros, aka Sean Johnston,
Weatherall's co-pilot in A Love From Outer Space. Kusuma's first mix is a driving house track with a definite late
'80s warehouse feel that brings early Tommy Musto to mind. The bassline is chunky and surrounded by intricate
and highly danceable drum patterns that wheel and swerve under the vocals. The track builds aggressively with
haunting strings and syndrum hits. It's perfect for peak time play. His second offering is a looser, deeper and
more narcotic effort. It's no less driving than his first mix, but strays into darker territory with an acid-tinged
bassline, rolling toms, plenty of delay on the chant, stabs of electric keys and fantastic drum programming.
The Hardway Bros' mix rounds out this release perfectly by toughening the original bass line even further, making
the beat stomp hard and then throwing in some acid to create a swirling cauldron of phantasmagorical, phuturisic,
phunk phantasticness. You've been given phair warning my phriends, React' will garner what it asks for, a
rousing reaction on the dance floors to which it is applied.
