LOS HERMANOS — Another Day

Los Hermanos return to Mother Tongue Records with Another Day / Binary Funk Infusion / Let Love Live, a three-track 12-inch that brings together three distinctly different sides of Gerald Mitchell’s Detroit-rooted musical vocabulary. Originally issued as MT19008 in 2020 and subsequently repressed as MT19008R, the record moves from gospel-infused soulful house through electro-leaning techno-jazz and into a beatless, deeply expressive vocal piece featuring Billy Love. It is a release that demonstrates why Los Hermanos has remained an important vehicle for Mitchell’s exploration of the connection between Detroit house, techno, soul, jazz and funk. Gerald Mitchell’s Los Hermanos project has roots stretching back to the late 1990s and is closely associated with the wider Underground Resistance orbit. Mitchell has continued to develop the project as a producer, bandleader and DJ, using Los Hermanos as a space where Detroit’s house and techno traditions can meet live-musician sensibilities, soul and jazz. Another Day is particularly interesting because it does not attempt to force these influences into a single stylistic formula. Instead, each track approaches the relationship between electronic rhythm and Black American musical traditions from a different direction. The record opens with Another Day, produced under Mitchell’s Soul Saver alias. The track is an upfront piece of Detroit house built around a disco-derived rhythmic foundation and sped-up gospel vocal material. Resident Advisor describes the combination as modern Detroit house with gospel vocals laid over a disco beat, and that balance is central to its character. The vocal fragments provide emotional elevation while the rhythm section remains firmly functional, creating a track that can work on a dancefloor without sacrificing the warmth and musicality associated with gospel and soul. Another Day is also the most immediately accessible expression of the record’s soulful side. Rather than treating the vocal as a conventional lead performance, Mitchell uses it as part of the rhythmic and harmonic fabric. The accelerated gospel phrases become another source of propulsion, interacting with the percussion instead of simply sitting above it. That approach places the track somewhere between soulful house and Detroit house, with the disco influence giving it a strong physical pulse. It is an effective A-side opener precisely because the groove is direct while the emotional content remains unusually rich. Binary Funk Infusion (Extended Mix) follows on the B1. Recorded by Gerald Mitchell with Bob Rogue, the track moves into a more electronic and experimental space. Resident Advisor identifies it as the most computer-oriented production of the three, highlighting its funky acid lines and inventive drum programming. Mother Tongue's own description places the track within an electric techno-jazz framework, making the contrast with Another Day immediately apparent. Where the opener draws heavily on gospel and disco, Binary Funk Infusion uses synthesis, acidic movement and programmed percussion as its primary musical language. The track’s techno-jazz character is particularly important. Rather than simply adding jazz instrumentation to a techno rhythm, Mitchell and Rogue approach jazz through electronic musicality: rhythmic interaction, tonal movement and a sense of improvisational freedom within programmed structures. The acid lines provide a constantly shifting melodic presence, while the drums give the track a more mechanical foundation than the soulful A1. This makes Binary Funk Infusion the most overtly electronic selection on the record and a useful bridge between Detroit house and more machine-focused techno. Closing the release is The Billy Love Experience (Let Love Live), featuring Billy Love. The contrast is striking: after the programmed energy of Binary Funk Infusion, the record moves into a beatless piece centred almost entirely on voice and musical expression. Love delivers light jazz-style scatting and self-harmonisation, creating a performance that has more in common with an intimate R&B or soul recording than a conventional club track. Resident Advisor describes the track as a romantic beatless cut, while Mother Tongue highlights Billy Love’s vocal contribution as the closing statement of the EP. The decision to place Let Love Live at B2 is significant. It removes the expectation that every track on a house 12-inch must function as a dancefloor tool and instead allows the record to finish with a purely musical and emotional statement. Billy Love’s voice becomes the central instrument, with harmonisation and phrasing carrying the arrangement. The result provides an unusually intimate conclusion to a record otherwise anchored by strong electronic rhythms. Taken as a whole, Another Day / Binary Funk Infusion / Let Love Live is defined by contrast rather than uniformity. Another Day connects gospel, disco and Detroit house; Binary Funk Infusion explores acid, programmed drums and techno-jazz; Let Love Live moves completely away from the beat into soulful vocal expression. Yet all three tracks share Mitchell’s interest in the relationship between electronic production and the traditions of soul, funk and jazz. This makes the release feel like a coherent portrait of an artist rather than a conventional three-track genre EP. The record also has a particular place within Mother Tongue Records’ catalogue. The Italian label has consistently connected contemporary electronic music with soul, jazz, funk and sophisticated house traditions, making Los Hermanos a natural fit. The original MT19008 was released in December 2020, marking the first Los Hermanos vinyl EP in more than a decade according to the label. The later MT19008R repress preserves the same three-track programme, giving a new generation of DJs and collectors access to the record. For DJs, Another Day is the obvious dancefloor entry point, with its gospel vocal energy and disco-rooted house groove. Binary Funk Infusion provides a tougher and more electronic option, particularly useful when moving towards acid or techno territory. Let Love Live serves a completely different purpose: it can work as an intro, outro, listening piece or atmospheric transition rather than a conventional beat-driven selection. The unusual range of functions is one of the record’s strengths. For collectors, the MT19008R repress is significant because it brings back a release that originally appeared in 2020 and subsequently became difficult to obtain. The three tracks remain unchanged from the original programme, preserving the distinctive combination of Detroit house, gospel, techno-jazz, acid, soul and vocal experimentation. Another Day / Binary Funk Infusion / Let Love Live ultimately captures Gerald Mitchell’s ability to treat Detroit house as an open musical language rather than a fixed formula. From the gospel-powered groove of Another Day through the acidic electronic experimentation of Binary Funk Infusion to Billy Love’s beatless soul performance on Let Love Live, Los Hermanos demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of rhythm, voice and musical heritage. MT19008R is therefore much more than a straightforward Detroit house repress: it is a compact three-track document of Mitchell’s ability to move between the dancefloor, electronic experimentation and deeply human vocal music without losing the unmistakable musical identity of Los Hermanos.