Corrugated Tunnel – Threadbare

Corrugated Tunnel – Threadbare
Process Recordings
Written in October 2010. Review previously published on peteadkins.com
Review:
Vocals over deep, brooding house numbers tend to either make or break a track – they are hideously easy to misjudge and can destroy an otherwise healthy combination of ingredients. Thankfully, this is not the case with Corrugated Tunnel’s latest deep-house offering: if anything Martin McCann’s woozy vocals are the key ingredient to this unhurried collision of soft keys, violin strings and muted drums. Immersive and incredibly engaging, the track is a strong example of intelligent house music – its only major flaw being that reeling in at only 4:36 it’s too short to be the DJ-booth secret weapon that it contains trace elements of.
Instead, it’s all about the Orlando Voorn remix; the track is dragged out to over eight minutes and sprinkled with melting cymbal clashes, aided with gentle percussion. The track is deep, sexy and prolonged in a very sensual, smouldering fashion, as Voorn stretches the violin strings and synths into slow, subtle harmonies and peaks, making for the kind of track you can imagine everyone from Sasha to Damian Lazarus spinning.
The final remix comes courtesy of Berghain resident Norman Nodge. In a predictably minimal vein, the track is stripped back to clicks, kicks and stabs that accompany the vocals. Like the other offerings, this is slow, hypnotic and the beats are tautly controlled – although its unlikely to command the dance floor as much as Voorn’s epic reworking. With the original mix perfect for headphone listening, Orlando’s re-rub for record bags and Nodge’s edit useful as a bridge between minimal house and techno, what more could you want?
Peter Adkins Copyright 2010