Joseph 'JP' Patterson
Ryan Ellis and Lewis Wright, known to most as No Artificial Colours, are tech-house front-runners who are only three years into the game. The South East London producer/DJ outfit, whose name came about after randomly observing a can of fizzy pop (obviously), already count big-room names such as Jamie Jones, Maya Jane Coles, Kerri Chandler and labels like Defected as backers of their rolling, percussion-heavy house music—which, in some cases, can take more than the duo's whole career span to garner such attention.
Heard all over Shoreditch nightlife and peak-time Ibiza, N.A.C have also released a handful of well-received EPs via underground labels in their time: Street Knowledge on Pet Food Records, Jack & The Beans on Resonance Records, Crying Wolf on MadTech—and that's just a few. But following their bumpy-bumpy 2013 remix of Cyril Hahn's Perfect Girl for PMR Records (Disclosure, Jessie Ware), Wright and Ellis now have the major-indie on board to release their next set, Reach For Me, later on this year. Deep house has had a superb run in the UK charts these past couple of years, but now, in all its tinny glory, time is ripe for tech-house to steal some shine.
For our latest Selector column, we hand things over to No Artificial Colours' Lewis Wright, who gives us a rundown of their techno-infused house faves of the moment. Get cutting those shapes right after the jump.
LOUIE FRESCO – ARABIAN SEXCAPADE (DENNIS FERRER DRUMS MIX)
"We’ve been opening our sets with this, recently. It’s such a great track to bring everything down and start again, and it hasn’t failed us yet! Arabian Sexcapade is a complete percussive workout … Everything you’d expect from Dennis Ferrer, really."
JAKKIN RABBIT – MOVING
"Always such solid productions from Jakkin Rabbit, Moving, which is out on the 5 Years Of No.19 compilation, is a cool track that bounces along real nice. It fits in absolutely anywhere in a set, and also at any time of the night."
LEON – RULES OF LIFE
"We love, love, love this track. Rules Of Life is used to pick our sets up. Although the kick is most definitely at the forefront, we like how it stays interesting throughout, leading you into a nice little breakdown. We’ve always been into LEON’s work, and always look forward to thumping this out on a proper system.”
CHRISTOPH – SHELTER
"Although it’s been out for some time, Shelter does the business on the dance floor. Everything Christoph touches right now seems to be working so well that we have to try and limit ourselves to only two of his productions per set [laughs]. We played this track in Amsterdam a few weeks back, when playing in a circus tent out there, and people lost their minds! His style is right up our street."
AUDIOJACK – INDIGO (ALEXIS RAPHAEL REMIX)
"Really feeling this remix from Alexis. Proper, lovely stuff. This one is for creeping into the early hours, for sure. And we just love how it keeps bubbling away, with its nasty noises throughout."
This also appeared over at MTV IGGY: H E R E
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