Chicago's Fresh Meat is pleased to welcome long time friend Ludovic Llorca to our tight knit family. Written under his critically acclaimed Art Of Tones pseudonym, the "Square Looqs" EP expands on the soul drenched, futuristic signatures of past releases on 2020 Vision, Room With A View and F Communications. Llorca's productions are winding, dramatic and full-on, which had us thinking a stripped back rendition by one of our favorite Londoners, Shenoda, would round out this collection perfectly. The opening composition "The Looq" is a three-part odyssey. The initial section revolves around a jumping slap bass guitar that immediately reminded us of the DJ EFX remix of an old 90s favorite called "I've Got The Music" on Moonshine Music. The intricately programmed AOT discoesque beats build with a flurry of cymbals and loose percussion topped by swollen echoing pads. In its second phase, the track evolves with sweet electric pianos and the faintest of synth arpeggios. A timely breakdown ensues and eventually the track explodes with multiple layers of cascading synth stabs. "The Looq" is loaded with the kind of melodies and textured rhythm that has made past AOT tracks like "Praise" and "Terres Conquises" instant classics. Shenoda's remix of "The Looq" uses quite a bit of the original material whilst putting things together from a radically different point of view. In step with his highly acclaimed "Front Of Mind EP" from 2009, Shenoda focuses reduced edits of the original stems into a continually undulating hypnotic groove. He adds cut up vocals as cadence and writes a new syncopated sub sonic bass. His arrangement is made for long blends. Although there are subtle breakdowns peppered throughout, Shenoda always keeps at least part of the rhythm section chugging along. On his last visit to Fabric, label mainstay Mazi aka Audio Soul Project had to play the Shenoda remix twice as demanded by the crowd! "Square Knocking" is a bit of departure for Fresh Meat, with roaring synths and square oscillating bass line not typical of our other releases. But the timeless nature of the track, its slick production and dance floor appeal instantly endeared us. This again is pure Art Of Tones. Modulating analog synths, ratcheting bombastic beats anchored to a heavy disco clap, outer space sound effects and an epic breakdown followed only by more and more building are all AOT hallmarks we've come to love. Llorca knows how to make powerful music, rooted in the funky past while looking straight at tomorrow. FEEDBACK: Soul Minority - Amazing! Love all 3 tracks, top quality house...thanks for sending! Ralph Lawson - The Looq is a great track; been playing for over year off CDR! Luke Solomon - Super Hot. Love this! Kenny Hawkes - All great tracks and great sounding production. "The Loop" (original Mix) and especially "Square Knocking" are going to get lots of pays from me. Thank you so much for sending this to me. Worthy - Square Knocking is the one for me here.. Loving the big synth chords and atmosphere on that one. Deepchild - Ain't nuthin' wrong with these jams! Shenoda rmx and Square Knocking bring a substantial quantity of classic phatness to the mix. Playable as hell. BAM! Shur-I-Kan - Lovely stuff - Mr. Llorca a great producer as always. Desyn Masiello - Quality, Art Of Tones on fire at the moment. Many of their recent releases I'm playing. This one is great too.. Square Knocking is my pick but all tracks will get played. Nick Warren - Brilliant stuff, very very good indeed. Moodymanc - Liking the stripped back feel of the Shenoda....nice groove! Alexkid - Again! Very nice! Kolombo - Nice work! Nils Nuernberg - Very solid release. All mixes very cool. Shenoda remix stands out a bit more than the originals. THX* David Duriez - Great great great - Art Of Tones always at the top. Leigh Morgan (Urbantorque) - Fresh Meat continue to be on a roll with great music that stands out. In a sea of promo's which are often just getting deleted, Fresh Meat always gets heard. More quality here, all 3 tracks are cool. Hector Romero (SAW Recordings) - Simply rocking grooves here - really feeling this. Full support. DJ Yellow - Really cool EP...love Ludo's work, you can't go wrong...my fav will be Sqaure Knocking. Sasse - A notch above the rest of the weekly digest, Ludo delivers.. Ace! Looq is epic, anthemic and lovely! Tony Humphries - The Looq is a brilliant hyped track! Ralf Gum (Gogo Music) - Prefer the Shenoda remix.