Ornate is extremely pleased and excited to welcome Agnes aka Cavalier aka Ray Valioso, who has been responsible for putting out some of the best deep house over the past years on labels such as Trackdown, Moon Harbour, Tsuba and his own imprint STHLM Audio. His hypnotic, psychedelic and US garage influenced style is just the kind of thing we adore here at Ornate Music and he certainly hasn’t disappointed on his Got To Be Strong EP. Kicking off proceedings is the title track Got To Be Strong which is a chugging, pulsating slab of deep house and samples the disco classic Weekend by Class Action. With phasing pads, acid bass line and tough percussion there will be no way you’ll be wanting to stay at home. Taking things in a different direction but by now means turning down the heat, From Who Might That Be is a rolling, jazz influenced affair with a pounding kick drum, eerie pads, spooky vocals and a piano hook with more funk than Thelonius Monk. If I thought the town mentioned in the title of Calvingrad, Boring City maybe half as exciting as the track itself I’d probably consider moving there, but sadly I think I’ll just have take Agnes’ word for it. Vox pops talk about garage over dreamy pads with the sound of seagulls drifting around in the back ground and take you off somewhere else but snappy hats and a heavy lick will keep you firmly rooted to the dance floor. Returning again for remix duties after his monumental Ornate Music debut on The Weekend World EP by Toka Project is “The Mighty” Digs, who is celebrating 21 years of liberation through fun this year alongside his fellow groovers DiY Sound System, and the fun certainly shows no sign of slowing down judging by his reworking of Calvingrad, Boring City. Yet again he doesn’t disappoint with a trademark bubbling, Wild Pitch style builder.