Butterfly Crush (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} crushzine) wrote,@ 2006-06-09 15:20:00 |
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DAN CURTIN, Tricks Pt. 1 12" ep
The North American Midwest takes boundless flak for its perceived cultural deficiencies, and a hothouse environment for techno may well be among the many things that an outsider is unlikely to imagine the region as being. Since the early 90s, however, it has sustained what one presumes to be the sleeping, eating and breathing of techno by Ohio's Dan Curtin, who this year has finally become more than a name to me by virtue of his Echozeichen EP (lit up by a remix from Someone Else, who cuts only diamonds) and by this expertly crafted quad of digital paeans to sex in cars and other rhythmic contact with the interfacial points between biology and industry.
Side One here comprises two joints of tech-house hustle with the buzz of caffeine (or stronger) and real funky red meat on their minimalist bones. 'Side Out' is speckled with rapid syn-drum swirls like the cartoon eyes of the hypnotised, and the overlay of electronic fluting and mewling brings to mind birds clotted on trees and unrestful cats in afternoon heat. Its suave African-American voice samples are succeeded by some more suave still on 'Be With You,' which positively reeks of gel, cologne and male conceit. A subtle, worming rasp of a bassline tongues the ear and makes it nasty; but the stolid beat is brightened by metalloid drum patterning and warm throbs and thrills of colour and light, making it also mightily nice.
On Side Two, Professor Curtin delivers 'Back Seat,' an exemplary lesson in how to artfully exoticise the elementary 4/4 pounder, multiplying percussive clauses to dizzying extremes and piping in haunting vapours of soft, yet somehow ghostly-sinister, sounds of twilight secrets. This is a fitting prelude to the more complex and abstruse 'Undergroundz,' a deep-laid ferment of rainforest robotics which brings to a head these tracks' effective combination of lush life and clean 'n' dry, precise mechanics.
We Are The Ones We've Been Waiting For is the album, and it should be intriguing to discover how Curtin has handled the larger canvas. This EP, regardless, is a bag of tricks not to be missed.
The North American Midwest takes boundless flak for its perceived cultural deficiencies, and a hothouse environment for techno may well be among the many things that an outsider is unlikely to imagine the region as being. Since the early 90s, however, it has sustained what one presumes to be the sleeping, eating and breathing of techno by Ohio's Dan Curtin, who this year has finally become more than a name to me by virtue of his Echozeichen EP (lit up by a remix from Someone Else, who cuts only diamonds) and by this expertly crafted quad of digital paeans to sex in cars and other rhythmic contact with the interfacial points between biology and industry.
Side One here comprises two joints of tech-house hustle with the buzz of caffeine (or stronger) and real funky red meat on their minimalist bones. 'Side Out' is speckled with rapid syn-drum swirls like the cartoon eyes of the hypnotised, and the overlay of electronic fluting and mewling brings to mind birds clotted on trees and unrestful cats in afternoon heat. Its suave African-American voice samples are succeeded by some more suave still on 'Be With You,' which positively reeks of gel, cologne and male conceit. A subtle, worming rasp of a bassline tongues the ear and makes it nasty; but the stolid beat is brightened by metalloid drum patterning and warm throbs and thrills of colour and light, making it also mightily nice.
On Side Two, Professor Curtin delivers 'Back Seat,' an exemplary lesson in how to artfully exoticise the elementary 4/4 pounder, multiplying percussive clauses to dizzying extremes and piping in haunting vapours of soft, yet somehow ghostly-sinister, sounds of twilight secrets. This is a fitting prelude to the more complex and abstruse 'Undergroundz,' a deep-laid ferment of rainforest robotics which brings to a head these tracks' effective combination of lush life and clean 'n' dry, precise mechanics.
We Are The Ones We've Been Waiting For is the album, and it should be intriguing to discover how Curtin has handled the larger canvas. This EP, regardless, is a bag of tricks not to be missed.
