Some records feel like a night that starts in one city and ends in another. Barbur’s new single Around The Town is that kind of cut. Out on Steyoyoke as his debut for the imprint, it sits in that sweet spot where Tribal / Afro House percussion, Melodic House lift and Melodic Techno tension all share the same room. Marco pitched it as a melodic and progressive house track with afro influences, and that is exactly how it lands: forward, warm, and built for a floor that wants both groove and atmosphere.
The production does not rush. A driving low end holds the center while the arrangement opens in layers rather than dumping everything at once. Immersive pads and evolving melodic lines give it that late-set Steyoyoke character, the one that keeps bodies moving without shouting. Percussive afro-leaning detail keeps the rhythm from going stiff, so the track never feels like a straight four-on-the-floor lecture. There is a distinctive vocal tucked into the mix instead of parked on top of it, which is the right call. It becomes a hook you recognize without turning the record into a vocal-house karaoke moment.
That balance makes sense once you look at who is behind it. Barbur is Marco Barbiero, founder and A&R of Barbur Room, the Berlin-born platform he launched in 2014 after leaving Puglia. He still splits time between southern Italy and the German capital. Over the years Barbur Room has hosted names such as Charlotte de Witte, Deborah De Luca, Chus & Ceballos, Fatima Hajji, Nakadia, Giorgia Angiuli, Simina Grigoriu, Juliet Sikora and many more, while also giving early space to artists who later became regulars on bigger stages. In 2026 the project also stepped into a new chapter with BRM Agency, expanding from mixes, magazine and labels into booking and artist work.
Marco’s own path is longer than a single label debut. In the first decade of the 2000s he shared bills with Marshall Jefferson, Roger Sanchez, Satoshi Tomiie, Hector Romero and Ralph Falcon, especially around the south of Italy. As a producer he has landed on Einmusika, Nomade, Café De Anatolia, King Street Sounds, Nite Grooves, Frequenza, Kuukou and his own Barbur Music and Berlin Techno Music imprints. Older chapter marks include the Simina Grigoriu Nunchaku remix, the Under Conditions EP with remixes by Alex Kennon and Claude Monnet, It’s Berlin on Kuukou, and Modular on Frequenza. Mixes have gone out through Cadenza Source to Cycle via Luciano, plus Ibiza Global Radio, Electronic Groove, Deep House Amsterdam, Data Transmission and Pioneer DJ Radio.
Around The Town fits that catalogue without repeating it. Melodic house and melodic techno have been leaning harder into organic percussion and longer emotional arcs this year, and afro-influenced programming is part of why those records travel from club to sunset set. Steyoyoke’s lane is built for that exact tension: depth first, then movement. Barbur uses it well. The edit is tight enough for playlists; the full version is the one DJs will stretch when the room is already in it.
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What do you think of Barbur’s sound on this one? Drop it in the comments and tell me if Around The Town is going in the next night drive playlist.
