Tic Tac Toe Records presents Club Queen

Another fine EP from Tic Tac Toe Records that takes you deep down the rabbit hole of darkened dance and keeps you there, right in its midst. This is Patrick Bateman's new single Club Queen.

Photo by Tic Tac Toe Records

Somehow it’s been two years since Tic Tac Toe boss Patrick Bateman stepped up on his own label for a full release, but thankfully he now returns with a new single ‘Club Queen’ - complete with remixes from Frank Haag, Billy Johnston & Gennaro Mastrantonio - that reasserts his authority as the label’s finest exponent.

In original form ‘Club Queen’ is a deliciously deep number with ripples of chords rolling over its face, plenty of atmospheric ambiance and a slight sense of eeriness. It’s slow and purposeful, full of melting sounds and gentle rhythms and when the hi-hats land to complement the kick mid way through, it really drives on and takes you with it to the edge of the cosmos.

Amsterdam’s Frank Haag – a fast rising talent with releases on labels like Get the Curse and Serialism – tackles the first remix and initially strips it back just to weird found sounds that really set the scene. Then the rubbery kick drums come in and shuffle below sombre minor chords and squelchy machine effects, but the icing on the cake is the filtered, almost indecipherable vocal musings of French photographer and singer Julie Montel. The slurred textures add another layer of depth and intrigue to the already cerebral and consuming production.

A second remix comes from American producer Billy Johnston of labels like Black Nation, Sleaze and Blu Fin. Everyone from DJ Hell to Richie Hawtin has supported his minimal sounds in the past, and here he teams up with Gennaro Mastrantonio aka Undeep, the sub label owner of Apparel Music Limited. Together the pair craft a warm wind tunnel of deep and dubby, heavily rhythmic techno. It’s smooth and frictionless, with jus the odd synth searching the track’s sonic landscape and buried deep rattling percussion driving the whole thing along.

Another fine EP From Tic Tac Toe that takes you deep down the rabbit hole of darkened dance and keeps you there, right in its midst.

Patrick Bateman - Club Queen
Release date 23rd September 2013
Label Tic Tac Toe Records

Tracklist
1. Patrick Bateman - Club Queen (Frank Haag Reinterpretation feat. Julie Montel)
2. Patrick Bateman - Club Queen (Billy Johnston & Gennaro Mastrantonio Remix)
3. Patrick Bateman - Club Queen