Fauve Records shed light on forgotten pearls with the Extinct Melodies series

Recently launched out of Hong Kong, Fauve Records have hit the ground running and the quality of their output shows no sign of abating. Here they offer up a set of well-formed, esoteric edits.

Written by Toby Doman

It’s sitting there at the back of the crate, dusty and unnoticed with its well-thumbed sleeve and previous owner’s scribbles across the artwork. It’s a forgotten gem, which perhaps only the most committed vinyl enthusiast would have the patience to seek out. In a new project of re-touched global curiosities, Hong Kong’s Fauve Records kicks off a series celebrating the art of the forgotten. The Extinct Melodies series will see a collection of global producers apply some re-edit gloss to a clutch of lesser-known works.

In the coming months, you can expect offerings such as updated interpretations of long-forgotten Cantonese club standards (word of a planned Canto-remix of Mory Kante’s seminal Yeke is already getting the juices flowing), all designed to stretch the collective minds of global dancefloors. “It will be a bunch of everything and nothing,” says Fauve Records boss Romain FX. The cryptic description underlines the ethos of the series: it’s a multi-genre, anything goes.

So what about the music? The first Extinct Melodies EP comprises of four cuts of percussion-heavy excursions, featuring lashings of jungle effects and club-friendly 80s drum patterns. London’s Good Block have a reputation for shining a light in some of music’s darker corners in search of the good stuff and they show up bearing gifts with their rub of ‘A Kumma Yi Kidi’. Taking us on a beat-filled ride across the Serengeti. Russian outfit, Native Red show up at the disco and then promptly turn the lights out with a dark, effects-laden cut called ‘We Are The Warriors’. Finally, label boss Romain FX rounds off the package with two of his own re-sprays. ‘Jungle Boy,’ an acid woven counterpoint to the party starting ‘Bamango’.

With a pipeline boasting down tempo Japanese weirdness and a Bollywood package, the ‘Extinct’ series if on a mission to ensure you don’t forget about the forgotten.

You can buy the release here via Fauve Records’ Bandcamp page