Belgian producer/DJ Krewcial had recently unleashed the first release on his new imprint DeLaChaud, a 12" with two tracks plus various remixes and renditions. With the release being in the 2nd pandemic year it's certain that these gems didn't get their desired dance floor time yet, but that's about to change!
Pascal Garnier aka Krewcial hails from Ghent, Belgium and he has been releasing music for more than 25 years. He started out making hip-hop beats in the early 90s and MC'd in those days as well. Between 1994 and 2004 Pascal dropped countless 12"s, albums, EP's, and cassettes before taking a long break from music. Up till that point, he had a good run and released with labels such as BBE and even did a remix project with Lefto for Blue Note! One of my personal highlights from his first wave is without a doubt the track 'URU' featuring US vocalist/MC Phonte. Its soulfulness extends to this day and still feels as good as ever.
I'm not too sure what happened in the years when he wasn't releasing (2006-2015) but when Krewcial returned in 2016 it's clear that he developed a huge love for soulful house and disco music. He dropped a string of releases filled with edits and sample-based EPs on We Play House Recordings, Mysterious Works, Riot Records, G.A.M.M., Lumberjacks In Hell, even on the legendary Nervous Records from New York.
This love for the four-to-the-floor grooves is audible in his DJ sets as well. Listen or watch this set Krewcial did when he came down to Amsterdam and featured in our radio show back in November. It was a good hour filled with uplifting treats, such as Blaze - 'My Beat', Bebe Winans - 'Thank You', Jon Cutler - 'It's Yours' and a lot more of that soulfulness. This set was well needed at the time.
The first track on this new release is the wonderful Brazilian song 'Nereci', originally by singer/songwriter Djavan and came out back in 1978. An excellent, and not obvious, choice. Krewcial delivered three different versions of this cover: the "acoustic mix", which is without drums and focuses purely on the melodies and original song structure, the "club mix", which is an instant soulful anthem and will bring out the sun at any festival this year, and the "bruk mix", my favorite of the three, which has swinging drums and percussive patterns that will instantly start moving your lower limbs. All versions are blessed with majestic strings and the incredible playing of Amsterdam's finest flutist Han Litz. Every note he plays makes total sense and accompanies the overall vibe.
The second track 'Love & Devotion' is soulful house galore and will strike any lover of good disco and house music. It's so well written, played, produced, and arranged that it could easily be an unreleased gem of a previous era. US songstress Nimiwari took this song, embodied it, and guided us right into the clouds. Krewcial himself also give it a more banging club version and our main man Kid Sublime delivered an "emo bruk mix" for the heads. It's a clear 'all killer, no filler'-release and we suggest you add this to your collection.
The 12" is out now via DeLaChoud, find it at your local dealer, and if they don't have it then tell 'em to get it. You'll need it for the upcoming spring!
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