NAPT & Peo de Pitte's Gonna Be Mine

I once read an article on The Beatles in Rolling Stone. "Michael Jackson can buy all the rights he wants," it concluded. "But he'll never mean as much to people as The Beatles did. Each single was an event." In a strange way, I have a similar relationship with UK post-breaks outfit NAPT. I can't claim a similar level of adoration - it's the frickin' Beatles, for christ's sake - but I anticipate each minor, solitary release with a similarly disproportionate degree of enthusiasm. To me; each single and EP release has become an event.

The advantage of NAPT's approach is that their artistic growth is both more focused and immediate. The difference between Lock The P and King Jitter (both released in 2011), for example, is considerable. The difference between either of those productions and a production like 2009's eight-minute Make My Day is insurmountable. NAPT, moreso than any act I could name, take advantage of dance music's prolific dynamic to really explore and refine their approach at every opportunity. Each production is a new experiment.

Of late, I'd worried about such an approach. Gonna Be Mine lays such concerns to rest. Having formed their own record label Red Sugar Records, NAPT's work had been growing increasingly stranger and increasingly simplified. The sprawling, multi-layered productions of breakthrough singles like Gotta Have More Cowbell had been replaced by simpler arrangements and stranger approaches. Following December's highly experimental and stripped-back King Jutter/Treatise EP, I briefly lost interest in NAPT altogether.



Still, Gonna Be Mine re-affirms my interest in the pair's work. A collaboration with rising London producer Peo De Pitte, Gonna Be Mine ultimately does what NAPT have always done best - squirreling intricate, innovative flourishes of creative artistry within broad panoramas of dancefloor-conquering electro-funk. Initial listens may suggest an obvious approach (sampling Snap's ubiquitous 'The Power' is either a bold or foolish move), subsequent investigations reveal infinitely more detail at work.

Observe, for example, their use of the aforementioned sample. In a similar approach to their revisiting of Technotronic's Pump Up the Jam in Make My Day, Snap's main hook isn't actually the main hook of Gonna Be Mine. It's cleverly twisted and re-edited into an entirely different hook. The production is defined through such supple craftsmanship - a lurching bassline lends uncharacteristic swing to a previously direct groove, snippets of eighties electro-funk (gated toms, brief synth-stabs) appear without warning.

Structurally, it retains NAPT's recent fascination with simplicity. Indeed, it actually mimics King Jitter's arrangement quite closely. It works, though. The joy of NAPT's output of late - a joy, I must admit, I overlooked until recently - is its unrivalled immediacy. The expansive convolution of their older work is undeniably fascinating but it doesn't really compare with the unbridled euphoria of Gonna Be Mine's shuddering bass drop - or, for that matter, King Jitter's swirling, plaintive vocal hook or Treatise's stripped-back electro/breaks groove.

Another strong showing, in other words. They're releasing another EP soon. Obviously, I'm excited.