Montreal- and Brooklyn-based producers Patrick Holland and Max McFerren are two of the most adventurous figures in the “outsider house” scene. Under aliases like MCFERRDOG, Jump Source, and Project Pablo, the two have paired lush pads, rickety drums, and sporadic stabs of MIDI that laugh in the face of the self-serious dance underground. On records like I Want to Believe and Lawd Forgive Me*, *with the Vancouver imprint 1080p, the DJs refashioned the bare, lo-fi underground sound into something wide-eyed, colorful, and dripping with new age energy.
Joining forces now as 2 Responsible, the pair offer more four-on-the-floor brilliance. With a blown-out kick and stomping bassline, “Warm for a Long Time” takes obvious cues from New York’s late-1980s Paradise Garage scene, yet the track still feels new in its panging stereoscopic delays and thin piano stabs. Like Masters at Work or Hardrive’s Strictly Rhythm releases, the track introduces certain staples of house’s heavy history—a soul sample eminently familiar to anyone from the era, as well as a ratcheting tambourine, now clipped. Locking in on a strange new link between past and present, “Warm for a Long Time” stays true to its name, swamping listeners with a balmy wash of sound.
