Synth-fuelled dance-floor havoc courtesy of Sound Support and Prins Thomas

Internasjonal Records bring us some much-needed sonic medicine

Words by Rocco Universal

It's always am enormous pleasure to receive new music from the Internasjonal, and this latest offering – coming complete with a vintage Prins Thomas Diskomiks – is particularly riveting.

Here they present Sound Support: an exciting new production outfit comprised of Detroit Swindle's Lars Dales and keyboard wizard Lorenz Rhode. The pair started composing music together after successfully performing alongside one another as the 'Swindle's critically acclaimed live act, and the musical simpatico between the two is as vividly colourful as it is plain to hear.

Internasjonal is the collaborative label project of Prins Thomas and Word and Sound's Kai Frager and has long been a home for star-gazing cosmic sounds from the likes of Phreek Plus One, Al Usher, Hunee, Cole Medina, DJ Sotofett among many others. As you would expect from its curators, the music presented is consistently excellent. Following Prins Thomas' epic rework of 'Coffee In The Morning' on Detroit Swindle's Heist Recordings, this time it's the Norwegian who plays host to the Flying Dutchmen's offerings.

Detroit Swindle have more many years been among the heaviest of hitting deep house production outfits, with their prolific output proving to be reliably strong, and often endowed with a loose musicality that sets them apart from most in the field. It's therefore little surprise that this house-weighted mission into freeform virtuosity is rich with inspired improvisations and funk-flecked charm, yet still largely aimed at working the floor.

Opening track 'Stab by Stab' combines spacious piano chords with a meaty bass hook and snappy drums over a compelling arrangement, with its marriage of heavy groove sections, catchy synth work and dramatic breakdowns proving to be hyper-infectious on the floor. Next up, the tempo drops a touch for the rolling breaks of 'Europe'. Some kind of delightful hybrid of jazz-funk and cosmic disco, again the duo make use of powerful builds to add drama, with atmospheric chords, swung beats and spaced-out pads providing the bed from which the outrageous lead synth can soar (and soar).

On the flip, 'Catwalk' is perhaps the most identifiably Detroit Swindle informed track on the 12. Purposeful bass drives the energy as chords progress over tight drums and, once again, a marvellous lead synth is given ample room to explode. Finally, completing an exceptionally good slab of wax, Prins Thomas does his diskomiks thing to 'Europe', and the result is pretty breathtaking. He makes full use of the excellent instrumentation, upping the energy level and solidifying the beats to turn the laid back original into a heads-down dance-floor weapon. For me it's the hypnotic groove section building into the lead synth that makes this one of the highlights of the release, endowing the cut with a turbocharge to add to its psychedelic-prog sensibilities.

I should add that, thankfully, clubs are open where I'm currently based, and all of these tracks have been road-tested, sound fantastic played loud, and are certifiable crowd rockers. I don't think I can pick a favourite, they're all so very good.

Sound Support 'Stab by Stab EP' is out October 23. You can buy it here

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