Somewhat paradoxically often referred to as ‘the unsung hero of British house music’ Solomon has long been in the game, whether behind the scenes releasing records by the likes of DJ Sneak, Matthew Herbert, Tiefschwarz and Isolee, or garnering critical and commercial praise for his own outputs, Solomon’s refusal to compromise his artistic integrity in the face of ‘marketability’ is hard to refute.
This, despite the fact that he was technically responsible for one 2007’s biggest wet farts, “The Creeps” which was itself, a mutated monstrosity of a remix of one of Solomon’s tracks under his Freaks moniker, alongside Justin Harris. Having cast off any potential slurs of having sold out to the demonic behemoth of commercial dance, Luke’s career could be said to be starting anew, spurred on by more recent releases on Crosstown Rebels, Rekids, Toy Tonics and Local Talk.
Solomon is well known for his collaborative work alongside artists as diverse as Terry Grant, Earl Gateshead and Damian Lazarus, and on his latest output again teams up with two musical luminaries, this time in the shape of Greenskeepers vocalist Nick Maurer and Sam Lynham of Gramme, who returned after a decade of silence only last year with one of 2013’s best sleeper records, ‘Fascination’.
As for the record itself, title track ‘Stop the Riot’ is an organic, funk led house track peppered with guitar licks, delicate percussion and yes, the odd trumpet, but it’s relentless and hard hitting enough to more than smash up a summer dancefloor given the opportune moment, and a strong reminder of Solomon’s pop credentials.
Next, ‘The Acid Games’ is a vocal heavy, choral call and response effort, driven by jumbled layers of classic house bass, whilst a grinding 303 sits neatly in the middle somewhere. “The rules are… there are no rules” (Grease quote anyone?) remains a constant call but for a track which is so vocal heavy, speech never steals the limelight, save for a few choice lines (“Who even reads the newspaper anymore?!”).
Subtle it certainly isn’t, but who needs subtle when you’ve got a drawn out war of words between a disparaging figurehead and a daydreaming throwback jostling for position with an acid house monster? Ultimately, it’s all good fun and as the track comes to a close, it’s comforting to know that we’re all in on the joke.
Available from the 21st of July.
