The Strom Brothers Ebbilow / Boyskee Beat Manta Recordings (NZ)

I know little about New Zealand’s trance scene, actually I know depressingly little about New Zealand, but anyway this 12” arrived mysteriously and hasn’t shaken that vibe since it did. Ebbilow is ethereal, hardly there in its ticklish skitty production. Just when you’re used to the idea of the spaces between the sounds being where the action’s at, it picks up a very cute, Union Jack-y keychange and rides on out into the sunset as a pretty damn perfect progressive smoocher. Boyskee Beat is a stoned moper, cruising around its apartment at about 124bpm. As it wanders to and from the fridge and occasionally gets up to go to the toilet, gobsmacking production brings in hardly-there backdrop sounds, diamond pads and some slightly eerie ectoplasm, before retiring to the sofa with a box of pringles and a Simpsons double-header.