Subtle and soulful techno is shouldered by belligerent and bawdy bassline brutes.
Lower Parts is carving out an enviable position for itself. True, within the sphere of electronic music there are other artists and labels exploring similar avenues: the blurred fault-lines between house and techno, gritty analogue jams, hazy drum patterns and silky melodies. But the Greek imprint has managed to hit the right note time and time again, bobbing up and down in a tumultuous sea of genres. Drum Machine is the latest figure to rise from those every changing waves.
Five live tracks make up the inaugural Space Suite, and five more different tracks you would be hard pushed to find. Subtle and soulful techno is shouldered by belligerent and bawdy bassline brutes. The remixes are more team built tracks rather than reworks. Mituo Shiomi’s “Acute Angel” comes from this divide d and varied line. Beats collide and rumble, chords glittering and glowing behind curtains of static. “Jungel” comes from its namesake. A hammering beast, one born in a landscape of wild cruelty and pistons. “VCO Ship” is a milder creature. There is an edge of ferocity to it but its cleaner chords and smoother bars give it a much tamer aspect. And from “VCO Ship” the entire EP undergoes a domesticating. The savagery is all but forgotten in the deep and soothing tones of Oldman Talkin’s take on “Oulu.” And just to keep you guessing, “Space Wave” ends. All edges have been filleted for this sample peppered close. Lush pads and ticking percussion melt in this wonderfully warm finale.
Drum Machine is project based around collaboration and individual preference, and Space Suite sounds just that. No central style is fixed. But this isn’t a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth; far from it. Instead a whirling mix of influences has been drawn upon. From heavy hitting rhythms to dreamy synthlines, this latest addition to Lower Parts is emblematic of the label’s willingness to explore new avenues and elbow convention at the same time.
Space Suite is available on Lower Parts.
