Under his Fran Von Vie production guise, Francisco Guerra has been making tidal waves around his Balearic Island home since 2010 with 2011 proving a breakthrough year for the young Spaniard. Having work already signed to imprints, Somebody’s Story and DAR, Fran came runner-up in Sasha’s “Cut Me Down” remix competition, rewarded with a release on the legend’s own ‘Last Night On Earth’ label. Since then, Fran Von Vie has gone from strength to strength. Follow up work has caught the ear of Hernan Cattaneo and a debut EP for the label is slated for a 2013 release. Furthermore, his track “Wake Me Up When Everything Has Changed” was featured on Cattaneo’s “Masters Series Mix” for Renaissance.
Now, after the “Polaris” EP and its subsequent remixes for Particles, Fran Van Vie’s debut EP for Proton Music features two original tracks and a remix from Mark Poppcke.
Both title track “Road to Los Angeles” and partner track, “Turbulence” (featuring the vocal talents of Cio May), are brim full of Fran’s trademark sounds. Rich in complex textures and a thumping kick drum, “Road to Los Angeles” is a suitably dark affair with pulsing bass line and twisted vocal samples adding to the aural banquet. Full of hypnotic tension, this is a track that evokes visions of seething dance floors moving in rhythmic unison.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pUSY9GMJTE
“Turbulence” continues this theme with driving kick and pulsating textures before the vocal textures of Cio May lift the tension higher still with tape sync’d delays and an eerily pitched line that folds back on itself to create an extremely apposite description of its title. Following Fran’s maxim that music should “be felt, not understood”, this is original work of the highest order.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pUSY9GMJTE#t=4m10s
History has provided Berlin with a rich musical heritage providing German, Marc Poppcke, a hometown in which to produce his own brand of deep, progressive and tech house. With over 200 Beatport track credits plus undergraduate and post-graduate degrees to his name, Marc’s foremost love of DJ’ing and academic career have given him a solid foundation in music production, leading him to form his own Crossfrontier record label. These skills have not gone unnoticed. Poppcke’s work for the likes of Sudbeat, Baires and Last Night On Earth have given him an unrivalled profile of credibility and respect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pUSY9GMJTE#t=2m13s
Remixing, “Road to Los Angeles”, Marc Poppcke’s complex rhythmic arrangement combined with a deep, modulated bass line provides a wonderful basis for proceedings. As it wends itself along the seven-minute journey, rising and falling in intensity as it progresses, occasional vocal samples rhythmically pierce the rhythms reminding the listener, “We’re here”. Darkness pervades but a musically bright light is borne from it.
All three tracks here offer something unique. Fran Von Vie has an exquisite ear for innovation and production but Mark Poppcke really is a man on fire and his remix offers an amazing aural experience that should not be missed.
