Tom Dicicco‘s debut ep, Material Things draws a connection with Baud‘s sole other artist, Roger23, and his mentors, Swayzak.  This three-tracker from the young Englishman, which includes a Patrick Graeser remix of the title work and closer “Empire”, is a tough, slinkier affair that sits in that dusky area between dub techno and deeper tech house.

The build on “Material Things” culminates on the other side of four minutes into its almost 8-minute run with little more than the expected shuffle step after a very quick break, but it works.  The tension is in the lightning-in-fog dub chords and insistent, muffled kick.  While darker, sexier dancefloors will love the pacing, the stripped-down approach of the track puts it more in the transitional camp than peak-time floorfiller.

The Patrick Graeser mix attempts to bulk up the original for a more mainstream dancefloor position.  Percussion elements are more pronounced and the filtered delays are pushed up to provide more of an obvious swing than Dicicco’s mix.  The subtlety and slink of the original are sacrificed, and unfortunately the mix doesn’t progress beyond usage as a dj tool.

“Empire” is the track of the release for me.  Coming in around 5 minutes in length, its build progresses smoothly towards the groove and a wonderfully fluttering synth chord that drops in just after the two-minute mark.  Dicicco pulls back the snares around half-way through for a break that might go on a touch too long for anything other than the latest of late-night crowds, before the whole thing reconnects and closes out the final two minutes in a wonderfully hazy dub-house swing that would have the Swayzak guys considering other extreme sports in South American countries.

I put this on this morning expecting something calm and pastoral. I’d just been listening to the new Johnwaynes EP on Mule Musiq and needed something a little refreshing.

“Runners”, despite the name, did just that.

By the end of its 7:36 I was pretty sure this one was going to go down as an instant classic. Your fourth wind while sun is streaming in through eastern windows pretty much sums it up. A heavy-weight back half is the extended release of the working first – great stuff. This is what I remember from back in the late 90′s, in the bottom basement room at 19th & Grand. Morning Factory has redefined house music and given us the single mos-errrrrr . . .

Hey wait a sec, who exactly IS Morning Factory?

That’s a good question.  I started at their Discogs page, and was surprised to find this was their only listing.  But then clicking over to the Yore Records entry made me stop.  Andy Vaz‘s label, touting only the best of “old school” producers?  He’s got a co-production with Alton Miller on there?  Todd Sines as the first of about 20 releases?  The Above Smoke and Dubbyman brothers, Terrence Dixon, Kez YM?

Morning Factory has to be one of those anonymous super-producer gem things that’s been getting really popular lately, right?  Some classic producer from the early 90s dropping a bomb quietly out of nowhere, among Yore-friends, right?  Mike Banks featuring Dam-Funk?  Turns out it’s just two guys from Holland and it really is their debut release.

So that’s who Morning Factory is.

I’m pretty sure that’s Stevie Edwards of  “Future Love”/”Better Day” fame on track 2.

I found myself just sitting here, listening to these songs over and over again.  Granted, it was 8:45 in the morning, but in some parts of the world that’s just when the party is getting started.  The energy here is, as I said, refreshing.  The sneaker freakers are going to destroy “Raw Tunes Vol 1″ and ep closer “Someone” is a loveshaker, a smooth gallop ride in the house countryside.

This one goes down as one of the best debut eps I’ve heard in quite some time.