Gothically Charged

Spare Time
Lazy
[Factor City, 2005]
The second release from this duo comprised of MouseUp (production) and Undo (vocals) is another burner from the Factor City camp. The A-side is the original mix, comprised of precision synth stabs, heavy bass drum and bassline, some light strings, and the unmatched vocal stylings of Undo. His is a controlled simmer here, never betraying much, but complementing well. After his contributions conclude, though, MouseUp turns the track elsewhere, undergoing a key change, edging the song into trancey-house oblivion. On the flipside we have Agoria’s mix, who takes the track and jacks it, cutting it up into constituent parts, all leading up to a periodic climax of clustered synth barrages. Top stuff, per usual.
False
River Camping
[M_nus, 2005]
False has always seemed to be the lower-key pseudonym of Matthew Dear, one hardly interested in the cut-up Jabberjaw, the shape-shifting Matthew Dear, or the dancefloor insanity of Audion. But then again, most of his stuff under the guise comes out on Minus, so it should be expected. This particular 12” is an elegant and minimal collection of three songs. The title track rides an insistently ethereal (is that possible?) synth bed underneath some Detroit-tries-to-get-tribal melodic and drum programming. It’s not entirely successful in getting funky, but it does have the sort of awkward danceability that many producers from the area nonetheless achieve when they miss out on recreating their influences. The B-side is equally as claustrophobic and uncomfortable, but it’s “Tanning Booths” that makes its mark, utilizing three different rhythmic tracks to create a hypnotic stuttering effect.
Pantha Du Prince
Butterfly Girl
[Dial, 2005]
The slept-on gem microhouse full-length last year was Pantha Du Prince’s Diamond Daze. Sten (aka Lawrence) turns the disc’s best moment into one of his patented psuedo-romantic stompers, by dragging out the bass sound that he uses for every track he produces, but when coupled with Pantha’s gossamer melody fragments and ghostly strings, it works beautifully. The “Lost the Beat” version of the track is pure Dial—a gothically charged and distended version of the song’s most ephemeral moments pushed and pulled out over its nine minute length. Phillip Sollmann (aka Efdemin) takes care of the last version on the 12”, striking a sort of balance between the two tracks, and somehow weakening both.
Daso
Daybreak
[My Best Friend, 2005]
The best track from Triple R’s recent mix MBF Flashback finally saw release a few weeks ago, and it’s predictably fantastic. Those of you who don’t know “Daybreak”: imagine the Kraftwerk’s “Expo 2000” done by Jeff Samuel, with the vocals replaced by a vocoderized “Waiting for daybreak.” It may not sound awesome, but it most assuredly is. The other track found here, “T Anders” is has similar big-room sounding drums mixed with slowly revolving door basslines and tactile gauzy synths. This time the vocoder seems to be whispering at times, though, giving the vocal an almost frightening character, like Superpitcher as child molestor. Which, when I think about it, doesn’t sound that bad (musically, natch).

By: Todd Burns Published on: 2005-08-18 Comments (0) |