This latest installment balances techno warmth with frigid electro funk. While Terrace and Nu Era focus on the human spirit in electronic music, Finlow and London Modular Alliance concentrate on the alienating nature of this merging of man and machine. A 12” that explores two poles of electronics as De:tuned reaches the midway point. Five down and, thankfully, five to go.
Pressing plant delays? Not for De:tuned. With an efficiency that would make Volkswagen blush, the Belgian imprint has just hit number five of its ten set series. The latest collects musicians from Europe and the UK for a deep study of machine music.
Heading the quartet is Stefan Robbers (aka Terrace). Orchestral grandeur introduces “EStrings.” From a slow build of organic tones blooms a pure expression of modern intelligent dance music. Combining mechanical chirps and rattles, Robbers utilises a 4/4 bedrock from which grow meandering melodies, bubbling basslines and rich textures. Superb from a true master. Nu Era, of 4 Hero fame, follow with “A Future Within.” A return to the squelching future funk of Detroit, this stalwart blends sweetened strings and grooves with a free jazz Detroit inspired spirit. The flip chills the proceedings as Carl A. Finlow’s frosted fingers take the helm. Reduced, beats are refracted through glass and shadows in this alien and eerie soundscape. Those creeping currents continue into London Modular Alliance’s “D6.” A lonesome journey into the underground of synthesizers, the Londoners construct brittle rhythms as clouds and gloom gather.
This latest installment balances techno warmth with frigid electro funk. While Terrace and Nu Era focus on the human spirit in electronic music, Finlow and London Modular Alliance concentrate on the alienating nature of this merging of man and machine. A 12” that explores two poles of electronics as De:tuned reaches the midway point. Five down and, thankfully, five to go.
DE:10.05 is available on De:tuned.
