"These days it seems a ‘secret’ project is ever more
popular, but ever harder to keep under wraps. In the case of Spencer
Parker, you’d actually wonder why there’d be the need, given his austere
taste and raw productions, across a clutch of essential labels like
Rekids, Tsuba, Buzzin’ Fly and Ovum. But he managed to hoodwink much of
his audience by keeping his involvement with the It’s Not Over project
firmly under wraps for over two years.
Come 2014, the big reveal comes
wrapped in a send-off that encapsulates much of the project, with a
fresh clutch of mixes along for the ride. The result is an
all-encompassing entry for the uninitiated, and a collector’s piece for
its many fans.
It’s hard to pick out highlights or standouts when each
track is of such striking quality, but from the outset of CD1, ‘Late At
Night’s rough-hewn percs and pared-back melodic twines set the scene for
a nine-strong outing of all the 12” releases. The beauty of It’s Not
Over’s existence has been Parker’s shackle-free approach, unencumbered
by any expectations borne by his name, and right across the disc there
are moments of joy in house music in its purest forms. ‘East Pointe’s
twinned keys/piano/bass patterns that hypnotise and envelop, ‘Collective
Consciousness’ throbbing percussive nucleus and ‘The Institute’s
metallic stabs and copper hits, hanging in a haze of glowing white
noise. Each track has its own motif, subtle, developing characters or
stark statement, none more so than the emblematic ‘Brotherhood’, a
staple of Parker’s sets, built as it is on momentous drum layers, bass
note and that vocal.
The bonus is the second disc, with exclusive tracks from
the It’s Not Over cache, be they new cuts or reworks of the vinyl
releases. Here we see different approaches, such as ‘East Pointe’s
Beatless emergence, ‘Belle Ville’s UFO Mix, stripped of its vocal, now
supplanted by a haunting synth line, and wonderful angle on
‘Brotherhood’, with the Roland Street Instrumental losing the vocal but
gaining a lush, looped pair of competing leads. New tracks ‘Industrial
Rhythm’, with its comparatively welcoming chords and fizzing low end,
and the majestic ‘3000E’s honed arps and plump, throbbing toms prove
none of the fire’s been lost over the course of the three years in
secret. As an entity, the two discs act as a retrospective of one of
house music’s more interesting and aurally rewarding studies of recent
years, and more than anything reflect the dancefloor love of an artist
clearly at the top of their game."
