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Review: Dewdropper by Pad Chennington


Released through independent Wales-based-label My Pet Flamingo in December 2019 - the sophomore album from American YouTuber, music fanatic, DJ and producer Pad Chennington - who initially shot to fame a few years prior for his explorative deep dives into underground music - is an absolutely brilliant, and incredibly fun and playful record that manages to expertly meld the sounds of future funk and choppy, tight French house, with a few slower excursions thrown in there for good measure - that boasts an extremely impressive line-up of collaborators and serves as a major step forward in almost every way from his debut album Contrast, which I thought would be pretty hard to top after lots of listens!

I initially discovered Pad's incredible music a couple of years ago after watching a plethora of his amazing YouTube videos that were focused on the genres explored in this album, however I only managed to give this record a full listen a few months back, and boy, was I impressed. The first three tracks on the album set the tone expertly - the bad-ass opener Rookie being a dope slice of heavily compressed, disco infused hip hop, before launching into the amazing Amalfi - a surprisingly deep (and very funky) classic co-produced by the blog's resident Baltimore-based musician FIBRE - and the warm, rap influenced Platform Peril, which sounds like something that would have been signed to Blackjack Records in the late 90s and been a fixture in pretty much every Parisian DJ's record bag during the first wave of the French touch movement (or maybe that's just the epic sax action that takes over the last minute of the track, because everybody loves the sax...)

By the time Dewdropper goes into its second third, things start to get a lot more versatile, a lot more wild and a lot more star-studded. After the short, minimalistic and sweet Exhibition - French superhero The Phantom's Revenge and Australian future funk veteran HATENA take center stage with Pad, delivering two back to back weapons that absolutely kick when played loudly, meaning that they still have the power to decimate clubs and parties almost seven years after release - Better Than 20 Million being a dark, stylish, bassy and almost menacing club cut that serves as my personal favourite on this record, while also being a track that I can imagine a crowd going nuts for, and the excellent Combat, which is a bright, glittery filter house jam that feels almost Patrick Alavi-esque in nature, largely in part due to the slamming beats and the (heavenly) bassline that could make any unassuming French house fan float.

The final three tracks on Dewdropper close the record excellently, while also managing to include several nods to some of Pad's major musical influences - Espresso Royale feels like something that could have been signed to Ed Banger in 2008, namely being filed under the Lambs Anger-era work of Mr. Oizo with its quirky, yet catchy production, the penultimate track House Shop feels like a welcome blend of trippy hip-hop and vaporwave (at least, I believe that's the name - it's in Japanese, so if I'm incorrect, someone tell me in the comments!) and finally, Dewdropper closes with the emotional, almost romantic future funk classic Seasons Of Disco, done in collaboration with one of the genre's greatest purveyors, New York's very own SAINT PEPSI - in which the two of them deliver a groovy, yet unique workout that's as sentimental as it is summery that manages to blend their styles in an extremely awesome way - the tight production and playful vibes of the rest of the record there, but with some of that vaporwave magic sprinkled in there for good measure.

To sum it up in the best way I possibly can - Dewdropper is an absolutely awesome and deeply underrated album that, if you haven't listened to yet, I hugely urge you to do so. It's bound to please any fan of disco-influenced club music, while remaining a record that's different enough to get lost in, explore and dissect - similar to how Pad does on his YouTube channel, and has done for years - while also just being a super fun ride in general, which is the most important thing!

Rating: 9/10

You can stream and download 'Dewdropper' on Bandcamp through My Pet Flamingo's page now.



I hope you've enjoyed reading today's review - keep cookin' and poppin' (see what I did there?) and as always - keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.




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