(07.18.06) Touchin’ Bass is on fire at the moment; Andrea Parker’s label is releasing every different shade of electro from Bitstream to Otto Von Schirach, from Secret Frequency Crew to Scarletron aka Silicon Scally. After two excellent compilations, the first proper album is from the Scottish Wee DJ’s, who take the listeners to a journey into gritty and foggy electro.
Since the very first track you can feel the prominent features of their sound: classic electro techno breaks overwhelmed by menacing bass and clanging synths. While bass frequencies are very neat and precise, the other end of the spectrum is intentionally rough, lo-fi, even disturbing sometimes: while “Money” is focused on a crisp beat and a storming bassline, “Wheemyth” is built around screeching noises that try to hide an emerging Detroit rhythm. Not every track on this record is dance-floor oriented, also because some tunes last within 3-4 minutes, but the overall alien industrial sound enhances home listening quite a bit, something you can’t say about many other strictly electro albums. Obviously there’s the perfect stuff for the open-minded DJ’s, easily mixable with Bitstream, Made, Tipper and of course with some other TB releases: tunes like “Breathe,” “430 remix” and “Derhar” guarantee duration, woofer smashing power and twisted rhythms; the latter is especially sick, constantly changing synths’ flavour, starting with ominous bass, evolving into old-school hip-hop bleeps and finally ending with crunchy electronics.
Fear And Lothian is so rich in textures that it’s impossible to be bored, the only reaction allowed is screaming for more. Being mostly a CD buyer, I’m only happy if Touchin’ Bass keeps releasing albums with this quality control level. Special mention for the ultra slick artwork by Them.
Fear And Lothian is out now on Touchin’ Bass.
