Sofia Kourtesis - La Perla (Fresia Magdalena EP)

Before every genre, there comes the Proto-genre tracks, Proto Speed Garage tracks for example, or Proto-Nightbus. Those tunes where the creators are free spirits, blithely laying down future conventions for everyone else to obey. A blogger with less flimsy knowledge would now uncork a deluge of examples, instead we have a solemn dripping deluge of one – Run Johnny Run by Roots, from 1991, whose 12” catalogue number, ZEN 1207, suggests it was the 7th release on Ninja Tunes. Kicking off with malevolent noir samples on a Renegade Soundwave tip, it´s an unhinged Coldcut house tune with insistent bass and a plaintive reggae style vocal. As an early, very very early, Chemical (née Dust) Brothers DJ track, we could tag it as Proto Big Beat, except that it lacks the breaks or acid to be a true contender. Looking at a dance development curve, and performing integration, my calculations give me the definition Proto Future, which is stupid, it´s just that Run Johnny Run showed us one way to go.

Neither acid nor breaks turn up on Sofia Kourtesis´ La Perla either, it´s 12” catalogue number is TCLR037, which can be approximated as the 2,896th release on Ninja Tune or its offshoots. It´s a breezy house excursion. Like a well-weighted parasol, it evokes tropical pastoral, but with enough solid bottom end to stop everything wafting away like beach fluff. It brought those very first Ninja Tune purchases back to me with the Chemical Brothers connection, it seems to owe something to them in their most blissful moments, Star Guitar or Swoon perhaps.

Kourtesis is a Peruvian living in Berlin, and La Perla evokes a nostalgic scent of beach life, as well as a tang of loss. It´s the first of her productions where she has taken the leap into singing, giving a personal flavour to the tracks. “I wrote this about thinking about the last hours of daylight,” she says.

Tú y yo En soledad Igual acá Tratando de cambiar Tratando de olvidar

You and me,

The same here alone,

Trying to change

Trying to forget

“La Perla’ is about staring at the sea,” she says, “It's the first thing I’ll do when I return to Peru. My dad used to say staring at the sea is like meditation, it clears your head. This song is for him. It's hard for me to listen to La Perla as it wrote it during a time I lost my dad to leukaemia. This song is for him, descansa en paz papa."

By Your Side, the other lead track from the EP throws in filtered beats, insistent brass and sporadic “alright”s and “see”s, reminiscent of the heady Super Discount house sound. Together with La Perla, it makes the EP another dazzling release among an array of wonders from 2021´s Ninja Tune stable. You can find haters online, harking back to some golden age, but 30 years on from Roots, the label appears to be in wonderful condition – Marie Davidson, Thundercat, Hiatus Kaiyote, Bicep and Black Country, New Road have all had top quality releases out this year. As the sample says at the beginning of Run Johnny Run, “Stop snivelling!” – this doesn´t make a great deal of sense here and I´m sure that there is a more appropriate quote, but it´s the bit I remember best and I can´t check for others as weirdly the track has disappeared from You Tube overnight, and my 12” is in storage 1,2000 miles away so………….”Stop snivelling!” And this time it almost works.

THIS WEEK

Sofia Kourtesis – La Perla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY1bZjXKKWA

31,306 views since 2nd Feb Weekly Average Views – 4,981

LAST WEEK

Ladyhawke & BROODS – Guilty Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h70bVlpFuZM

Weekly Average Views – 59,856. Blog Week Views – 36,966

EXTRAS – Ninja Tunes then and now (with thanks to Andy Harvey Hill and Paul Pledger)

Sofia Kourtesis – By Your Side

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMJ_JutOOMw

Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu - Worst Comes To Worst (Morgan Geist Remix)