Nightmares on Wax & Marlon Lopez via 20/20 Vision

If you were dancing in a warehouse in 1990 you would most definitely have heard the bass heavy bleep sounds emanating from a new record label called WARP Records, and many of those early tracks were made by a young artist from Leeds called George Evelyn aka Nightmares on Wax. Dextrous came first with its distinctive stripped-down beats and infectious melody before Aftermath destroyed bass bins and gained national attention, even entering the Top 40. Then, as quickly as bleep music rose it was gone as the artists all moved on in new directions including N.O.W who went on to create another brand-new sound with Smoker’s Delight. 

The influence of bleep remains to this day as new generations of DJs find those early records by LFO, Forgemasters, Sweet Exorcist, Ital Rockers and of course Nightmares on Wax, yet it took a brand new collaboration with a young artist from Ibiza called Marlon Lopez to produce Patang – which can only be described as a return to the roots of bleep, and it’s a welcome return indeed. Marlon has been carving a name for himself in Ibiza as a musician and DJ for several years and caught George’s attention as an independent talent far removed from Ibizan club music. Lopez is an accomplished bass player and soon found himself at the tender age of 17 playing live on N.O.W shows and touring with the band. 

Patang is rich with cascading synth lines thrown into space echo chambers with tight insistent drum machine rhythms produced with at Evelyn’s legendary studio nestled away from the crowds in the North of the White Island. The energy in the track is palpable built with Evelyn’s knowledge and Marlon’s musicality with fresh impetus crafted together in Ibiza. It’s poetry in motion.

Cancel Dat! is one for the house heads invoking sweat soaked memories of being on the dancefloor floor for Masters at Work or Theo Parrish. It’s heavily swung beats punctuated with crisp snare patterns and crunchy drums hold down 8 bit string samples and bass heavy patterns. 

Both tracks were originally pressed on a limited white label for a very rare N.O.W appearance outside WARP records on 20/20 Vision by Ralph Lawson who also jumps on two exclusive Edits which work the key elements into unreleased dub versions being a tribute to Chicago house hero Jamie Principle with Jam 4 Jamie while the second rolls Cancel Dat! into a locked groove for the house heads to get down on the dancefloor.

VIS0808 is an essential trip back to the roots of bleep and a tribute to the true masters of house music. 

Release dates: 

Vinyl APRIL 27th

Digital MAY 25th

A1 Patang 

A2 Cancel Dat!

B1 Cancel Dat! (Wulf’s Jam 4 Jamie)

B2 Cancel Dat! (Wulf’s Get it Together Remix)

by Decoded Magazine

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