Plumage Schallplatten & CDs

Review: In a bid to expand the horizons of his Plumage label, Norm De Plume has begun recruiting like-minded producers. For this split EP, he's recruited Greta Cottage Workshop regular Paxton Fettel. The Copenhagen-based producer delivers some deceptively atmospheric goodness on the A, first travelling into deep space ambient house territory with the shuffling "Ambling Waves In Eternity", before effortlessly joining the dots between sultry jazz-funk and languid deep house on "Marble Street". As for Norm De Plume, he delivers a wonderfully rich and loose chunk of piano-laden jazz-house ("Rhythm & Sound"), before enhancing his deep disco-house credentials with the loopy "Step In Time".

Review: Founded back in 2010, Norm De Plume's label Plumage really hasn't delivered the volume of records it's artfully punned name deserves with this 12" featuring the man himself alongside Ben La Desh only the third release. Perhaps the Plume is more about quality than quantity, and there is certainly plenty of the former on display across the four tracks on Give To Receive. As you might expect from the title, both Norm and Ben contribute an original production and both also remix each other's original production, making for a unique twist on the collaborative approach. Norm's production skills have developed some now, so there is no cut and loop tactics present on "Roll On", it's all his own work and the funk is still very much there whilst Ben La Desh's "Lotion" really shows off his mastery for toying with vocal loops - nice old school bell sample too! For the remixes, Norm goes sparse and deep on Ben whilst the opposing tweak offers a more tropical vibe.

Review: Norm De Plume stops orbiting near Earth in the Delusions Of Grandeur pod to drop two classy edits on his new Plumage imprint. It's slightly unfortunate that "Tullio's Theme" focuses on the same slice of mid 80s Balearica - "Stop Bajon" by Tullio De Piscopo - as a certain Theo Parrish does on his forthcoming release for Archive but the two versions are not really comparable musically. Sounding very much like vintage Mark E, "Tullio's Theme" is a largely instrumental tweak that adds some satisfying depth the mid tempo groove that drives the track. On the flip "Give It Up For JM2" slides the gearstick up a notch for some twilight filtered disco delight which builds towards a revealing crescendo. A limited vinyl only pressing just adds to the air of buyability that surrounds this 12 inch.