After releasing with Sonar Kollektiv and Defected, Michael Beim AKA Skwerl became a Gigolo in 2009 and now releases his third 12” for us, the You Need to Dance EP, with some of his most inventive work to date.

The A-side is an exclusive extended 12” version of “You Need to Dance” – also serving as a teaser for our upcoming thirteenth label compilation – which is constructed around the a cappella from “By the Way You Dance” by Salsoul Records artist Bunny Siegler. Other than the vocals, though, there’s little connection to the Philly sound of the 1979 original; instead, Skwerl provides an ultra-modern polished house groove with an almost sinister quality, contrasting with, yet perfectly complementing, the soulful lyrical delivery.

On the B-side, treated with a playful Skwerl instrumental, again showing his ability to pull from a variety of sound sources and mix them into a cohesive bouquet: at first, it’s a simple combination of piano, strings and mild-mannered percussion, but soon a piercing synth starts perforating the surface, allowing the wild jacking rhythms to storm the scene with an old-school acid line to compete for attention. But despite the mish-mash of organic and synthetic sounds, “Pollyanna” remains a unified piece, with nods toward the past of dance music history while sounding undoubtedly contemporary.

You Need To Dance
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Pollyanna
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Source:  Gigolo Records