- Kann, a small label based in Leipzig, has been putting out warm, low-key house and techno since 2008, but they first came to my attention in 2010 with "Don't Turn Around," a 12-inch they put out collaboratively with Mikrodisko. Though the latter isn't his personal venture, Kassem Mosse has become somewhat synonymous with the imprint, and the producer's inimitable sound certainly wouldn't be out of place on a Kann release. So it's not terribly surprising that Tom Falk Golz, producing as Falke, makes his 12-inch debut on the label sounding a bit like Mosse if the fog ever burned off his sonics.
But Undermyarms is an excellent release in its own right, a focused collection of gray-skied house with just enough forward motion to keep the tracks out of the doldrums. The title cut, in fact, has oomph in spades beneath the rainy-day chords that hold down the melody. An acid bassline and a little extra uplift sneak into "Latenight," though there's enough somberness and uncertainty in its melody to prevent its clubbier impulses from ever completely taking over. Likewise, "Flying" measures the playfulness of its percussion with deep blue hues further up in the arrangement. Downtrodden, however, Falke is not: like so much of what Dial or the aforementioned Mosse releases, Undermyarms knows there's plenty of dancing to be found even with heartstrings engaged.
Tracklist A Undermyarms
B1 Latenight
B2 Flying