You may know Gorman’s work from his own Mikrowave label from Manchester that he started last year with 12 inchers: ‘Black & White’, ‘Produckt’, ‘Format’ and ‘Quirk’. These caught the ear of CMYK who released a three track 12” called ‘Azul Nota’ (Blue Note) reshaping minimal techno with “metallic jazz-swing” weaving from Yellow Magic Orchestra to Moodymann.

The International DJ himself, DJ Hell, was clearly impressed as he included Gorman’s remix of ‘The Vamp’ on his 10 year anniversary celebration compilation, International DeeJay Gigolos CD Ten and then went on to sign him up double quick for this 13-track debut album, Chemistry Lock.

A bold move on the basis of such a relatively small body of work but it doesn’t take you long to find out that Hell’s confidence was no gamble. Gorman is a man keen on short titles and the CD kicks off with the previously released dancefloor favourite ‘DMX’.

While there’s a few tried and trusted Chicago/Detroit standard EFX (like trains, Star Wars lazers, ping-pong, industrial…) he manages to keep the sound big and strangely un-clichéd; try ‘Voxbox’ that’s so jazzy bop. Hi-tek Northern soul perhaps?

‘Brother’ is a bit spacey and the last few tracks are more in-yer-face but there are no fillers in this set. Quite stunning considering all the tracks were recorded at the Mikrowave Studios in just over a year. What a buzz that must have been!

Last year there were many (re)visits to Manchester as the home of rave, The Hacienda, Factory/Tony Wilson (RIP) but who would have thought it could be the new Berlin? Along with Florian Meindl, this is highly recommended. As Mixmag says, “file under Gigolo rides again”.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Voxbox’, ‘DMX’, ‘DMX Remake’, ‘Build On Sam’, ‘Chemistry Lock’, ‘Slang’, ‘Program City’

Reviewed: Kevin Gorman — Chemistry Lock (International Deejay Gigolo Records) Cat. No. GIGALO 219 Release date: December 2007
1. DMX
2. Build On Sam
3. Chemistry Lock
4. Voxbox
5. Brother
6. Lazer
7. Slang
8. Orange
9. Disekt
10. Program City
11. DMX Remake
12. Guardian
13. Repeat Rock

Links:
www.kevingorman.co.uk
www.myspace.com/kevingorman
www.last.fm/music/Kevin Gorman
www.mikrowave.co.uk
www.gigolorecords.com
www.cmykmusik.com