- A well-executed blend of house, techno and drum & bass.
- Most of the releases on Violet's Naive label have been joyful. The same goes for Angel Heart, the debut EP from Marco Rodriguez—at least for the first few bars of the title track. Then things go south, taking on a sound informed by dark drum & bass. The execution on "Angel Heart" is airtight, the track reflecting Naive M.O.'s in everything but mood: bits and pieces of dance music history lovingly put together.
Rodriguez knows a thing or two about dance music history, regularly posting old gems on his Instagram, and even DJing classic Portuguese house under the name DJ Senior Vasquez. "Baggy Kru" is another example of his canny fusion. The name could reference Madchester or early jungle, and the song is somewhere in between. "In A Dream" homes in on a different period: the fertile early '00s when garage and grime had barely separated, darkly melodic and roughly textured.
The B-side is more positive. "Emerald City" has a glittering arpeggio. The Almaty remix is even more cheerful, like trancey Copenhagen fast techno slowed down. Naive has released plenty of happy-go-lucky dance music, but as the moodier Angel Heart proves, the label's best strength might be how combines so many styles.
TracklistA1 Angel Heart
A2 In A Dream
A3 Baggy Kru
B1 Emerald City
B2 Emerald City (Almaty Remix)