Pender Street Steppers: "The Glass City"
The Pender Street Steppers sit at the center of the Mood Hut label, a collection of mostly Vancouver-based producers who drew raves last year for their melodic, easygoing house tunes. (Check their Life in the Zone mix for a thorough introduction.) Tracks from Jack J and Hashman embody the same quixotic, homespun sensibilities that North American labels like Future Times and L.I.E.S. trade on, but they pull a U-ey on the sound, swapping noisy, jarring techno for breezy samples. It’s cliché to note that this sound (Jack J’s “Something (On My Mind)” is the quintessential choice) evokes the pleasantly stoned temperament of the Pacific Northwest—both its inhabitants and its habitat—but it’s also difficult to avoid.
Perhaps by naming their latest “The Glass City”, the duo is hoping to throw everyone off the scent, or maybe they just really love Toledo, Ohio. Regardless, “The Glass City” is as temperate and even keeled as their previous work. Built on pillowy piano chords and a patient house beat, it will jack your body like a bowl and a nice view. The Steppers wait about a minute to usher in the track’s melodic backbone: an echoing, staccato horn riff so polite it would happily lower its own volume, should you ask. At times “The Glass City” sounds like the kind of graceful, distant melodicism Dan Bejar employed to such wonderful effect on Kaputt. Halfway through, a quiet “woo” sound rings out, the perfect celebration for an elegant jam.
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