Homeboy - Kaprije EP download free

Think the best beats in Croatia are the imported kind heard at the festivals that dominate the islands come summertime? Zagreb's Marko Pelaic is bound to make you think again with his Homeboy moniker, and this extraordinary three-tracker.Although he's put out plenty of tunes on Wolf Music, Hypercolour, brilliant Croatian label Burek and his own House is OK stable (co-run by Janis, who's also scored a Killer on this very page), this troika of trax is something special, the kind that gets an artist really noticed. 'Kaprije', the lead cut is a breezy, Balearic, low-slung houser with moody, Latin grand pianos soaked in vivid pigment and vital soul, its squelching, electroid bassline keeping the grit and flavour intact, before a long ambient coda of swirling tidal synths and mechanical birdsong.A tribute to the island of the same name, far off the tourist trail (for now), it's a fitting metaphor to describe the deeper musical richness that's in the country if you choose to look a little further.'The Simple Things in Life' is a more electronic, upbeat thing, all warm analogue bass, cut-up, processed guitar figures, but still licked by coastal breezes, rich in detail and yearning. Lastly, 'Somewhere a Band is Playing' centres around some unplaceable, lush jazz funk sample, again embellished with Marko's gift for melody and clarity. Anyone who digs 'Deep Burnt' — surely anyone who likes house, then — will dig this. Proof if it were needed that Croatia is making its own generation of great dance artists.DJ Mag UK, April 2015