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Jickels – Jackmere EP [Sidetrak Records]

by Stella Papadopoulou October 9, 2015

Jickels is the brainchild of Philippe Autuori and Sébastien Barquet, two boyhood friends originally from Sète, a city near Montpellier in the South of France.

Working as guitarists in several bands, they both went on to spinning records and started composing their own tracks inspired by House music. Their career as electronic music producers really started when they both moved to Paris. Sébastien released records on labels such as Dialect Recordings and Crack & Speed run by the famous deep house soldier Jef K. He also appeared on the compilation Trip Do Brazil for DJ Armand. Philippe released on his side one exclusive track for Poker Flat as well as an EP on Hypercolour. He then collaborated on the label Battle with Dave DK (Kompakt/Moodmusic) & Holger Zilske (Get Physical/BPitch).

One stayed in Paris, the other moved to Berlin. That’s how the Jickels project started, a subtle balance between musicality and functional dancefloor production.

The original mix of Jackmere is a funky tech house chugger with elements of old school and acid house. The pitched down vocals drop in and out subtly and feature most effectively with the bassline change that lifts you up from the dancefloor before dropping you back into the mix!

White Bamboo is a slightly darker affair taking swirling techno stabs and layering them over subtle pads and vocal breaks.

The Andy Reynolds bass heavy remix of Jackmere is more stripped back than the Jickel’s arrangement. Some elements echo Lodemann’s classic ‘Where Are You Now’ using pad builds and synth drops to the maximum effect.