Not all that long ago each and every release from anonymous duo Tiger & Woods (also Cleo & Patra or Pop & Eye) was greeted by an eager anticipation. Each hand-stamped 12” was a genuine, timeless disco-boogie gem. This was before the pair started knocking out samey house reworks for digital remix packages, helping to dissolve a lot of their reliable, enigmatic allure.
But their ear for a sample-driven and looped hook remains second to none. And in a wonderful return to form, the duo’s label Editainment arrives with a brand-spanking new pseudonym Boe & Zak for the Ruby EP. (Rumour has is the artist in question is in fact Matthew Styles not Tiger & Woods).
By now you’ve probably heard ‘Loop For Love’ (it caught my ear in Lauer’s Trouble Vision podcast and also appeared in Moomin’s Boiler Room). Or indeed you may recognise the sample as the regularly pillaged disco hit ‘It Looks Like Love’ by Goody Goody. The original’s nagging guitar riff is stretched over a choppy, ragged house groove while the strings are left to soar. It’s a serious banger that’ll do the rounds all summer.
The rest of the EP relies on similar 90s-leaning drums. ‘Kiss My Cologne’ is a simple tool which passes brittle beats through an excess of effects. ‘Unstoppable’ returns to more familiar Tiger & Woods territories, manipulating filtered, loopy hip hop vocals that sit underneath snappy percussion and a deep, funky bassline. There’s also a peculiar FX version of ‘Unstoppable’, unevenly morphing and distorting the vocal and disco strings for its duration.
It’s all about ‘Loop For Love’ then – a sure-fire dancefloor weapon.
Tiger & Woods | March | Format: vinyl only
A1 Loop For Love
A2 Kiss My Cologne
B1 Unstoppable
B2 Unstoppable FX
