Who’s up for a trip to Bali? Pete Dougherty, aka Moon Boots, certainly was. As one of my favorite producers and DJs in the game I was pleasantly surprised to learn yesterday that Moon Boots dropped a brand new 2-song EP on Anjunadeep, which is a label that’s absolutely thriving right now. I’ve come to love Moon Boots for his funkier light-hearted tracks but as of late he’s cultivated a deeper sound that still manages to keep his flavor intact.
The title track from this EP, Keramas, is Deep yet playful and full of soul and named after a region of Bali. The track was blasting out of my car speakers yesterday with the high-end percussion standing out amid the obscure vocals. When you dig a little deeper into the making of this track you become very intrigued by what Moon Boots was able to accomplish:
“The basis for “Keramas’ was a field recording I made when I had a couple days off in Bali during an Asian tour last summer“ Moon Boots tells Mixmag. “I was staying at a hotel on Keramas beach and heard these beautiful voices coming from off in the distance. Different women were taking turns on the mic singing beautiful melodies and a male preacher would also jump in with these strange hypnotic fragments. This was all blasting on a beat up loudspeaker so I was able to record it from outside the temple. The things that sound like sitars are just the singer’s voice sampled in short bits, and the bells are like my rough homage to gamelan.
“People think of Bali as this incredible place to take a vacation, do some yoga, get in touch with nature, and all of that, but it also has this incredible musical culture that sometimes gets overlooked. When I recorded it I wasn’t planning on turning it into a track, I just wanted to have an interesting recording from the trip, something I could listen to and plant me back to that place and time.”
After reading that, the vocals of “Keramas” come alive.
For the B-side, “Harpanet”, we’re introduced to a dreamier version of Moon Boots. My initial reaction is thinking this is something you might hear Lee Burridge play during an All Day I Dream Set. It’s got deeper sounds and heavy bass notes but like “Keramas” has lighter high-ends as well.
Overall a stellar effort by Moon Boots who has really established himself as a unique and consistent force in the House music world.