Manuel Tur - Vabanque

Oh Mr Tur, when will you stop doing this to us? Vabanque is another sublime release, with a hit remix from Stimming and a solid B-side in Girardet.  
Vabanque is an atmospheric gentle little number, yet it still carries that hefty edginess that you know would make it sound great on a big sound system. I didn’t quite get this until third or fourth listen but now I’m really warming to it. A gentle unobtrusive base line slowly plods along, with long drawn out chords building the atmosphere nicely. A repeated distorted vocal gives it a lovely spooky edge. The pace starts to build though with a harsher synth preempting the first breakdown, which itself is a real hands-in-the-air moment. Vabanque certainly isn’t one of Tur’s best but it’s certainly a great deep house tune – especially when a new, groovy hip wiggling bass line appears out of nowhere half way through. I listened to this driving through London at night – it seemed very fitting. A very moody piece of music.
 
Dude of the moment Stimming gives Vabanque his own makeover with excellent results. Chucking in a little short sharp bongo riff, some gentle maraca sounds (which run throughout the entire tune) and some irregular distorted synthy bits. The stand out element is the fantastically naughty cracking sound that would get anyone of their seat and dancing – it sounds like someone getting repeatedly whipped. Despite the dark connotations it’s lovely. The vocal only makes a rare appearance, sandwiched between a yummy cascading xylophone riff which then gives way to the final chapter of deep housey loveliness. Lovely jubbly.
 
Girardet is more bouncy and upbeat in tone, a wood block giving it a nice percussive edge nicely juxtaposed with harsh, almost computer gamey synths. A farty sub-bass brings all these elements together, however, to give Girardet quite a cheeky quality. Some may find the nature of the synths a bit grating but it keeps its groove all the way to the end. A solid piece of house music.