Chasing Unicorns

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22 Feb 2012

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20th March. Pencil that date in your Diary. Not only is it the anniversary of the death of St. Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria (but of course you already had that pencilled in), it is also the release date for Chasing Unicorns’ debut – René Van Munster’s Misschien.

For those of you who didn’t read our Lightworks article from October last year, Chasing Unicorns is the latest record label to grace Sheffield’s rich musical tapestry. And whilst the cynics amongst you may be thinking “oh brilliant, another ‘great’ new record label in an industry saturated with great, new DIY institutions”, I can assure you that Chasing Unicorns will prove you wrong.

In an interview last year we were informed that Chasing Unicorns promises to “promote the breed of house music we love and to create a home for all the likeminded artists we work with.” And if that doesn’t provide you with any clues as to what to expect then maybe a preview of their first release will.

 http://soundcloud.com/chasing-unicorns

René Van Munster’s Misschien somehow manages to span just about every aspect of House music imaginable in just 3 tracks (and a remix from close friend, Brabe) – but then what did you expect of the first release from Lightworks’ sister project?
Misschien’s title track instantly smacks you round the head with a giant bass drum just before sticking its bassline in your girlfriend’s mouth. And whilst this very vulgar analogy sets the tone for large parts of this EP, it almost seems a little (ok, a lot) too derogatory for such a well thought out, well-constructed and intricately produced release.
Things get a little easier going as the EP progresses, with the third track rumbling the Dutchman’s secret love of turtle necks and double bass (or Jazz as it is known to those in the field). A release full of clever samples comes to a head with The Sound Of One Hand, which boasts the coolest bassline of the whole EP.

The Brabe remix of The Sound Of One Hand takes this vibe to a whole new level, stripping it back and creating a much purer House sound, which nicely finishes a very strong debut release for the guys at Chasing Unicorns.
If this is an indication of the new breed of House music that Chasing Unicorns informed us of, then I can already hear the pitter-patter of bloggers’ keyboards (probably my own) going mad for phrases like Unicorn House or Unicorn Horse, if you will.

You can get your hands on René Van Munster’s Misschien on the 20th March (I’ll be selling copies at my St. Cuthbert Memorial party – everyone’s invited).
Keep up to date with all of the unicorn chasing over on: Facebook and Twitter.

By Alex Pegg