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12"
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HEIST 081EP
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Makèz deliver the perfect follow up to their hit Downstream with L.A. artist Life on Planets. With support from pretty much the whole of Radio 1 (Pete Tong, Jaguar, Sarah Story, Danny Howard and more), and club DJs across the board ranging from ANOTR to Louie Vega, their fall 2023 release has really been a dream collab with vocalist and producer Life on Planets. It's only fitting that the duo comes home to Heist with their follow up EP: Midnight Time. This new EP is a perfect blend of the intricate, soulful songs and punchy club tracks listeners have come to love from Makèz. On the A-side is the jazz cut "Closer" with AVA LAVÁ, who fans will remember from their Holy Sun EP on Heist. "Closer" is equally laidback, full of textures and rich musical elements and a perfect mood-setter for the EP. Next is "Running from the noise" with Life on Planets on vocals. "Midnight Time" is another collaboration with AVA LAVÁ, and takes the EP into the club realm, while still keeping things jazzy. Everything about this track is infectious and you can just feel this go off in a club. With their Midnight Time EP, Makèz creates a gorgeous journey through their sonic world.
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2LP
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HEIST 002LP
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Makèz have come a long way since they first sneaked into Amsterdam's studio 80 at the age of 17 to hand over their demos to Dam Swindle. Those demos led to their debut EP Different Planets on Heist in 2019 which gained major support from artists like Seth Troxler and Chez Damier. Quickly after, they signed two records on New York based label Let's Play House. Fast forward two years, and here it is: the release of their debut album City Of All. City Of All shows an admirable level of sophistication and matureness and effortlessly bridges genres across its 13 tracks. You can feel the amount of thought that has been put into this record, with songs happily blending into each other as Makèz submerge themselves in their concept of accidental encounters, inclusiveness and what it means to live in a city like Amsterdam. Makèz bring together all the musical influences they've picked up in their life as music fans, clubbers, and art students. The jazz-funk of opening track "The Entrance" feels breezy, casual almost, like the freeform rhythms that are played in a jazz club during soundcheck. That energy also oozes from "Not So Different", which features the smooth vocals of LYMA. There's a hint of the house-meets-Rn'B vibe that made Anderson .Paak the star that he is now. The song is brilliantly funky and shows the songwriting and arrangement talent of Makèz, who cleverly use pop and soul cues to create one of the album's highlights. What follows is four cuts ranging from the syncopated Balearic funk of "Orbit", the strings of album title track "City Of All", the organ-led jam "Gonna Getya" and the downbeat "Sonder". Allysha Joy -- best known for performing in Melbourne hip-hop collective 30/70 -- is featured on the deep and jazzy cut "Looking Up". These kindred spirits perfectly complement each other on this track, where the deep bass, warm harmonies and jazzy percussion prove to be a perfect foundation for Allysha's rhymes. Far from an album all about jazz and soulful tracks, there's a nice bit of dancefloor-oriented tracks, where the distorted filter funk of "Roselane" featuring Fouk proves to be a highlight along with what is arguably the heaviest cut of the album: "Bent With Funk".
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12"
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HEIST 040EP
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Makèz make their debut on Heist Recordings. Makèz (formed by Jan-Willem Mulder and Kees van't Klooster) are a duo from Amsterdam, where they both studied music production and sound design. Different Planets EP sees the duo navigate between disco flavored house, dreamy electronics and old school Chicago influences. The remix is by none other than Belfast based DJ and founder of Body Fusion: Bobby Analog.
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