Rebel Swing

Erik Møller's first album under the Unai moniker, out through his own short-lived Nusond.

Though he became well known through his later ForceTracks/ DiscoInc. releases as well as his remixes, I believe this one has aged better than expected. It's rather easy to see his primary influences here (Berlin dubtech, electronics, disco, funk) and to hear his first attempts in combining them together to propose his sound - a sound that was to influence others towards a direction that only Luomo's debut had done before (*). Bridging nord electronics and the techhouse/ minimal/ dubtech/ tendencies of the time, he added an occasional (then missing) disco touch, while still shying away from his pop side (which he went to explored thoroughly after this one).

The real reason I prefer this record though is that even though he later undoubtedly bettered his production skills and reached higher levels in terms of song-writing, his sound became a bit homogenized. I mean, most of his remixes are similar to each other, he does similar tricks, etc. And even though I adore 'I Like Your Style', the vocals sound an awful lot like Phil Collins. Anyway, this one has all the advantages of a first album (variable material, desire for experimentation, enthusiasm), shooting at different directions at the same time and succeeding. Here you'll find dub techno epics, disco-influenced heavy house, even dubby 2-step beats, all in a nice tight package (a lot of NordLead sounds in there). Aimed for home listening and a smart dancefloor alike.

Unai - 2001 Rebel Swing
Info here.

Contains a slightly extended version of 'Brave Star' (*), a track I still play after all these years. The other Nusond vinyl I had encountered and passed it by - I remember it sounded 'too' vocal house to my ears back then. How I'd like to check that out again...