Alliance Upholstery is a fledgling independent 12″ label out of NYC concentrating on House and Balearic Beat, and today we check out their first release, the Greeen Linez Hibiscus Pacific Remix EP . Greeen Linez is a duo that brings together Chris Greenberg, from the UK electronic pop band Hong Kong In The 60s, with the UK-born/Tokyo-based DJ/producer A Taut Line, aka Matt Lyne, who is also a co-founder of the electronic label Diskotopia. “Hibiscus Pacific” first appeared on the pair’s 2012 debut LP Things That Fade, and here the track is remastered and presented with remixes from Sorcerer (Tirk/Nang), Jacques Renault (DFA/Let’s Play House), and Moon B (Peoples Potential Unlimited).
“Hibiscus Pacific” is breezy and buoyant 80’s retro-pop, channeling Bubble-era exuberance thru shimmering, champagne-dream melodies, and well-mannered, button down funk! A meticulously studied and executed trip down memory lane, Greenberg and Lyne’s beautifully air-brushed facades conjure up preppy yacht fantasies and the ubiquitous prints of Patrick Nagel via the tracks’s glossy, stylized surface, and blithe, sunny sonics. In so doing, “Hibiscus Pacific” is spot on in it’s evoking of this exuberant time in 80’s pop, and the track is all the more interesting for sounding like a perfect, black market knock-off, or recently recovered gem from the period!
Sorcerer‘s remix of the original maintains the track’s sultry cool, passing it thru tropical, and Balearic beat permutations, while adding rain sticks of cascading whispers, as well as a summery, Ibiza glow. For his cut, Jacques Renault goes on to strip the track of it’s “preppy yacht fantasies”, emphasizing instead it’s deep bass qualities, while bringing out a more techno than house profile to the proceedings; and the result sounds like it would be allergic to sunny beaches, opting instead for urban mazes and all night clubbing! Atlanta’s Moon B maximizes the track’s funk capacity, making it’s bass and rhythm-line kinetic and irresistibly foot-work oriented; and while it makes melodic nods to the original, Moon B’s remix of “Hibiscus Pacific” is housed in a more athletic and physical frame.
Alliance Upholstery informs us that they have several upcoming releases planned for 2014, including a 12″ from Sweden’s SASAC. In a recent email correspondence with the label’s founder Eli Cohen, he let us in on some of the back story and inspiration for Alliance Upholstery, informing us that it is named after a real, family-owned upholstery store in Springfield, Massachusetts where Cohen used to strip furniture in high school; and he makes a very interesting comparison when he claims that the business, “..fits the ethos of a house/disco label since you take old pieces of furniture, strip them to the base, and rebuild/recover them so they are something new. Kinda like house music?!?!” In talking about his inspiration for the label, he goes on to explain: “Many friends are producing such great music it was a way to support them and contribute something positive to society…”; and, he sums it all when he concludes with the terse maxim, “…the world needs more disco records”. We couldn’t have said it any better! While you’re at it, don’t miss Greeen Linez 2012 video for “Hibiscus Pacific”…
