Afterhours - Sleepwalker (12" vinyl)

If I’m honest I couldn’t tell you a thing about Afterhours as I’m totally unfamiliar with them. The press release says they’re from LA and flirt with the idea of an infinite nightlife filled with ‘ghosts, bums, lurkers, vampires and thugs’.

‘Sleepwalker’ is definitely getting me interested though. It’s a total nightcrawler fixated with rich Carpenter-esque synth melodies and skitterish beats perfect for night cruisin’ with a full pack of tabs. It’s like some aural depiction of a neo-futurist Tokyo through the eyes and ears of someone who can only dream of seeing and hearing such things. Dreamy stuff.

As the EP progresses there’s definitely a theme of soundtrack aping grooves that bring to mind the likes of Jan Hammer and Vangelis if they were younger, tougher and wore ray-bans at night. ‘4 A.M On The Local 83’ is particularly satisfying with dancing melodic poly-rhythms and sweet attack free pads but the final two tracks on the B-side are equally worthy of your ears. Real smoky business that brings to mind the likes of early Ninja Tune artists and perhaps even ‘Endtroducing’ at a stretch. Mainly though, this is pure soundtrack fodder of the finest calibre. Great grooves, simple infectious synth melodies and a pure nightbeat vibes.

So, once again NNF deliver the goods and keep what seems like an un-ending slew of nightlife music sounding fresh and futurized.