Some tracks hit you with everything in the first minute. "FORCE" does the opposite. Akpossoul and Manoo, two brothers working between Montreal and Lyon, built a nine-minute instrumental that takes its time, adding layer after layer until the pressure finally peaks. It came out on October 16, 2026, on Rocco Rodamaal's XPLR imprint, and it got a SoundCloud premiere from Melodic Deep.
Who Are Akpossoul and Manoo?
Akpossoul was born in Lyon, France, and now lives in Montreal, Canada. He brings West African roots into his music, and as the son of a DJ, music was part of his life from the start. Over the last decade he has built a name in the house scene with a deep, soulful, afro sound, working with or playing alongside names like Djeff, MoBlack, Jojo Flores, Boddhi Satva and Hyenah. In Montreal he holds a Saturday afternoon residency at the listening café Got Soul, and he runs his own events under the name The Journey: soulful Afro house nights with live percussionists, plus a SoundCloud podcast of the same name.
Manoo is his older brother, and a Lyon-based house producer with more than two decades in the French house scene. Manoo's catalog includes the "Toukan" EP with Mr Raoul K and Ahmed Sosso, whose title track was reworked by Dixon, and remixes for artists like OSKIDO, 2fox and Lilya Mandre. For Akpossoul, Manoo has been both a mentor and a creative peer.
Akpossoul & Manoo's "FORCE": Tension Over Instant Gratification
"FORCE" started with the groove and the atmosphere. The brothers wanted a track with a strong physical presence that doesn't give everything away at once, so the energy grows gradually. Percussion, electronics and rising synths gather around a hypnotic groove, and every new element has to earn its place. If a part didn't make the track stronger, it came out. As Akpossoul puts it, "Sometimes adding a small percussion detail can create more tension than adding a big synth."
The two worked remotely, sending ideas and versions back and forth between Montreal and Lyon until it felt right. Being brothers made that easier, because they can be direct with each other and decide quickly. At nine minutes, "FORCE" has plenty of room for those small changes to add up.
XPLR and the Space Between Afro and Progressive House
"FORCE" is the second release on XPLR, the label Rocco Rodamaal launched alongside his Memories Records imprint. XPLR has an open brief that spans house, techno and experimental electronic music, and the brothers didn't try to squeeze the track into a single box. It pulls from Afro and tribal house, with its focus on percussion and rhythm, and from progressive house, where long builds and slow-changing layers keep a dancefloor locked in. Akpossoul has said he follows the idea rather than the genre, and "FORCE" is the result of that thinking.
Final Thoughts
Do you like club tracks that take their time, or do you want the drop right away? And which brother duo in dance music should we write about next? Tell us in the comments.
A Tip for Independent Artists
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