Forty Five Minutes Of Rheinzand

In the five years they've been releasing music Rheinzand have racked up an impressive back catalogue- two albums, a bunch of singles and a slew of remixes (the remix package of tracks from their debut album ran to twenty three- there's that number again- different remixes by twenty two other artists and one by themselves). Straight outta Ghent, Belgium, the three piece group consist of singer Charlotte Caluwaerts, multi- instrumentalist and producer Reinhard Vanbergen and DJ/ producer Mo Disko. The slick, sleek and irresistible sound they make pulls from house, disco, Balearica, soul, funk and pop, building on dance music's history while aiming for the future. I love them- you should too. This mix tries to not just feature four- four dancefloor bangers but offer a slightly blurrier, out of focus selection of Rheinzand songs, a little off kilter but with hooks and beats aplenty. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Rheinzand

• We'll Be Alright (Single Edit)
• Break of Dawn
• Obey (Hardway Bros Live At The SSL Dub)
• Kills And Kisses (Skylab Remix)
• Electrify Me
• Slippery People
• Porque

We'll Be Alright was a single released in October 2021, a song written as the world emerged from lockdown and released as a point of optimism, a message that things might just be ok. It flutters and dances about, minor piano chords and a rising bassline pushing forwards. Charlotte's vocal soothes and soars, 'high tide, low tide, we'll be alright'. Synths and a sitar float around. We'll Be Alright is a gently psychedelic pop song- heady stuff at the time and since. 

Break of Dawn was the opening song on their self titled debut, released in March 2020 just as the world began to shut down due to Covid and a record that is among the best of that strange year's albums. It fades in in a blur of sound and bass, sounding not a million miles from an early 80s Talking Heads offcut, before some slide guitar appears. 

Obey was a 2019 single, remixed by a trio of excellent people- Scorpio Twins, SIRS and Hardway Bros. The Hardway Bros Live At The SSL Dub is a dubby take, the burbling synths and a two note guitar line riding on top of a growing groove, the sinuous bassline always at the centre of things. Sean Johnston is in no rush, as ever, and stretches things out for over eight minutes.

Kills And Kisses was a 2019 single, also like Obey on the debut album. Skylab's remix was on the mammoth remix package from 2021 along with remixes by the best names in the business- loops, chopped up vocals, thumping rhythms, stop- start sections, head spinning dynamics. 

Electrify Me is a nine minute epic from Rheinzand's second album, 2022's  Atlantis Atlantis, a song that sounds like an explosion at a disco factory with Barry White narrating while the tempo speeds up and slows down like the drum machine's got a mind of its own. 

Slippery People is a cover of the 1984 Talking Heads song, from the 2020 debut album- as good a cover of Talking Heads as any I've heard with a distorted buzzing bassline, disco strings and chanted playground vocals. Porque is from that album as well, a gorgeous dance - pop song, Charlotte's singing of the word 'porque' worth the price of the record alone. Porque is Spanish for because, which is as good an explanation of what Rheinzand do as anything else.