Expectations ?! LP by Le Hutin

For his debut album, we are gifted with an absorbing immersion into a world of glittering, enchanting dance music - an immersion that touches upon many cornerstones, scenes, and genres, all wrapped up in a beautiful, concise manner. Le Hutin is a French producer, DJ, and former label head, Robin Ballaud. Self-taught on numerous instruments, Robin absorbed many musical influences from his surroundings and friends.

He moved to the South Coast of England for a period to study before returning to France to focus solely on music. This focus led to Robin co-founding the much lauded De La Groove imprint in 2016, which has released some wondrous records over the years as the label served up only the finest House-oriented vibrations.

Previously mired in the fundamentals of Funk, Disco, and Hip Hop, Le Hutin became more and more drawn into House music from 2016 onwards, being particularly inspired by the likes of Johnick, Masters at Work, Grant Nelson, Richard Purser, Saint-Germain, and Atjazz. This newfound adoration manifested itself through his previous releases "The Sexophonist" (2021) and "Dive" (2022), or "Spanish Steroids" (2022) alongside Tour-Maubourg.

"Expectations ?!" is Le Hutin’s most ambitious work to date, an accumulation of 3 years of work. Utilising the foundations of House, UK Garage, and Soul music as anchor points, over the 18 tracks presented to us, Le Hutin takes us on quite a journey. The intrinsicness of the record runs deep, with Le Hutin recording his own playing heavily - rather than sampling - in order to create the melodic motifs and compositional elements that run through the listening experience. Still, 3 clear samplers are being used to record the music and keep the ideals of House Expressionism alive and well.

"Expectations ?!" is a great addition to those albums that cover so much ground in all the right ways, but most importantly in their own way. House and Garage might be the prevailing vibes, but there is so much here to saviour, an experience that is worth returning to time and time again to soak up the waterfall of emotion, groove, and passion. So go on, whack this record on - and keep those expectations close to your chest.

Le Hutin - Expectations ?! LP
Release Date 9th June 2023
Label De La Groove Records

Tracklist
1. Le Hutin - Outro To The World
2. Le Hutin, Chinau - Rumba Intenso
3. Le Hutin - Draft Dunk
4. Le Hutin, Virgil - What I Really Need
5. Le Hutin - Like We Use 2
6. Le Hutin, Ismael Ndir, Chinau - Sax On Ice
7. Le Hutin - The Anthem Part 3
8. Le Hutin, Ismael Ndir - Over Funk Alert
9. Le Hutin - Lust
10. Le Hutin - The Balance Inside
11. Le Hutin, Maxa, Mel C - Ridin
12. Le Hutin, Maxa - Everybody
13. Le Hutin - To This Place
14. Le Hutin, Ismael Ndir - In The Fuzz
15. Le Hutin - Through Those
16. Le Hutin, Sonja - W.A.R
17. Le Hutin - Shadows Of The Past
18, Le Hutin - Shoulda Say Hi (Bonus Track)