VQ078 Lee Curtiss & Steingold – Living the Dream Adjacent

Early September will see the release of Lee Curtiss and Steingold’s “Dream Adjacent” EP on Visionquest Records.

Lee Curtiss has been in the game since your mother bought her first techno record. An undeniable fixture of the scene, with a vast career that has brought him from Detroit to Berlin to LA, Curtiss has played the best festivals and clubs the world over and released on countless top labels such as Spectral, Get Physical, Wolf + Lamb, Classic Music Company and of course the label he co-runs, Visionquest. As part of that all-star crew he has released classic remixes for Tracey Thorn, David Lynch and the epic “Good Voodoo” by Kiki. Steingold grew up in Detroit listening to The Wizard, Jeff Mills on the radio and began honing his dj skills at Detroit fixtures like Alvin’s, The Shelter and Motor. He moved to LA in the early 2000’s, and formed Hard & Soul, during which he connected with Peanut Butter Wolf and toured with Common and Lupe Fiasco. Hard & Soul remixed Mayer Hawthorn’s Tuxedo project for Stones Throw and Steingold went on to work with SPNCR and Curtiss thereafter, resulting in releases on Repopulate Mars and Soul Clap Records respectively. He currently tours all over the world with Mike D of The Beastie Boys, playing festivals ranging from Boston Calling to Primavera Festival in Barcelona.

The duo start off the EP with “Dream Adjacent”, which pops right in with snappy, sexy percussion and that lovely Roland descending airplane sound. The future 80’s type sound is foreshadowed by a synth that sounds like it jumped out a certain old video game involving two cave men. When the synth comes back in full time it’s perfectly complimented by a fat bassline and a dashing arpeggiated figure that dances around the spectrum. Add some synth strings to the mix and you’ve got a jam!

Next up, full on legend Doc Martin turns in a remix of “Dream Adjacent”. Staying true to the core base of the song, Martin jacks up the percussion, adding swirls, beeps, acid arps, a string pad and a sultry vocal that feeds into the breakdown.

The EP finishes with “Talk”, a bumpin’ jam with a nasty bassline and a reverb and delay drenched vocal. There’s plenty of space in the track, and that perfectly allows one to sop up as much of that bassline as you can get. Some reversed hats slide back and forth amongst the crispy forward pattern. A subtle, reverbed saw bass pops around the back half of the track, giving just the right amount of lift when it coincides with whooshing noise. It’s a standout EP that rightly brings that future funk we all love so much. 

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