Lone Raver
The Brighton stationed solo house project of Sam Watts, Maxxi Soundsystem, has functioned as a go-to tastemaking act within the club and underground sectors of our beloved house genre for years. With raucous and engaging DJ sets receiving worldwide acclaim from some of house’s best while ticking an impressive list of club and festival appearances that continues to grow by the week, coupled with releases on some of the biggest genre pushing dance labels in the world including Nurvous, Defected, Needwant and Black Butter; Maxxi Soundsystem’s gruff yet emotive dance floor artillery has been winning over droves of astute dance aficionados with the kind of relative ease which producers clamor for. His latest EP Medicine, a Single A-Side/Double B-Side release in its totality, marks the house bender’s return to another illustrious imprint, Culprit Recordings, and its closing tune “Lone Raver” checks just about every box on our proper house checklist. A swelling and swinging bassline, soulful vocals, punching kicks, and just an insanely tasteful melody all coalesce like PB&J, and go down just as smoothly. Featuring the re-ignition of one of Watts’ longtime vocal collaborators, Name One, “Lone Raver” rides a capricious tone in the form of a serene and welcome sea of dance instrumentation. We simply can’t shake this one today, and hopefully it warrants a couple of rinses for our house-heads. Maxxi Soundsystem’s Medicine EP sees official release on February 2, so get a leg up on your friends and stream “Lone Raver” above.
