17. Justin Faust – Spellbound
Just a few hours south of Berlin, Munich based producer and disco advocate Justin Faust continues to prove that Germans stand for more than just relentless head-jarring techno. Though dabbling in a genre determined to sit gently under the radar, Faust’s dexterity with the modern disco sound makes him one of the genre’s leading voices. He returns from a short musical hiatus to bring us his first full-length album ‘Spellbound‘ and, as the title suggests, it will bind you to the dance floor like some sort of frenzied enchantment.
His tracks ‘Tonight and Tomorrow’ alongside the classic ‘Space Rhumba’ have enough constantly evolving chord progressions and layers to make even Todd Terje applaud. Just when you think ‘Tonight and Tomorrow’ looks like it may wind down Faust takes the chords a level higher, creating a subtle lift and giddy release before comfortably setting us back on solid ground. ‘Higher Hopes’ seems to exercise the most risk within this unquestioned disco-house album and integrates surprising elements. It introduces a light atmospheric in stark contrast to a squelchy bass-heavy effect that makes being unhappy virtually impossible.
Ranging from the upbeat rhythms of disco-house to the catchiness of electro-pop, ’Spellbound’ indeed has us spellbound. If ever there needed to be an argument for the validity of disco in modern music, Justin Faust would hold his own alongside weathered veterans of the genre.
Written by Shea Kopp
