The veneer of mystery around London's Vondelpark has gradually eroded since last December's Sauna EP. The London trio has been stepping out, remixing others and working on collaborations. During an appearance at the Independent Label Market in London a couple of months ago, Lewis Rainsbury cut a slight, red-haired figure, complete with a "Vondelpark" badge for identification.
Capitalization quirks aside, nyc stuff and nyc bags is mostly a clearer vision, too. Sauna's smeared sonics have given way to something more refined. On "TV", Vondelpark even pushes the vocal more to the center, though it's still bathed in warmly romantic production. With synth strings and a vocal that has a bit of R&B drama, "Camels" is similarly sensual, as guitar chords stab at the fringes of languid bass and a clipped garage sample. Vondelpark's production still feels happily self-contained, but the smaller details-- thin bongo rhythms, a jagged sample hit in the right channel-- help make for a more focused track.
Where Sauna put elements of UK garage and bass music in a bedroom setting, nyc stuff and nyc bags is a more confident, summer-drenched listen. Take "Feat B", for instance: a Balearic-leaning cut complete with dubby horns, bongos, and a blissed-out female vocal. Anyone missing Air France could do worse than find comfort food here. While this second effort shows no great leap forward in terms of quality, it only underscores that Vondelpark are one of the more interesting UK production groups to emerge lately, mysterious or not.
