With a dozen remixes to consume, Specimen have their ears firmly planted on the abstract electro pulse.
Breaks, bass, and robotic electronics intersect raw electro shapes
Francois Dillinger’s MINDFRAME: Cycles (available November 2021 on Specimen) sees a preceding audible reconstruction where all manor of breaks, bass, and robotic electronics intersect raw electro shapes from the edges of the Milky Way Galaxy. Specimen continue to expand their roster, exploring not only a varied and forward thinking collection of releases, but also hosting a monthly podcast on Deep Space Radio. Francois Dillinger gravitates towards these futuristic and dystopian grooves, adding modular, synth, and broken rhythms to reshape the electro genre. Theses Recoded tracks bounce back and forth between old-school breakbeats with new-school rhythmic precision.
T/error opens the compilation, shattering sound-space by sculpting “Reverse Engineering” with an eerie and darkened beat onslaught as Datacrashrobot’s technically corrosive electronics on “2909” is a dense foray of outer world exploration. SMPL SMPL takes “2909” through darker and fluid terrain—where fidgeting bass and synth notes slither about. The Droid’s revision of “Folding Eye” magnetizes the original, treading bass funk and definitive bleep electronics. Serge Geyzel is high on our radar—the prolific sound designer takes “Cycles” into ethereal realms, scattered beatwork and synth strands float by as an emerging and emotional melody filters through the fog—simply mesmerizing. Lord Jalapeños refurbishes “Hidden Directory” with an emphasis on glitchy drum particles and meandering rhythmic notes as Telephasycx takes “Collapsing Truths” into minimal low-end tropes—an industrial smattering deep beneath the soil.
With a dozen remixes to consume, Specimen have their ears firmly planted on the abstract electro pulse. There’s also a distinct counterbalance at play that can’t be ignored—each artist exhibits an affinity for tangled and darker electro layers slingshotting themselves from the recent past and well into the future. Fans of Dionysian Mysteries, Pyramid Transmissions, Roulette Rekordz, and Woodwork should take notice.
MINDFRAME: Cycles [Recoded] is available on Specimen. [Bandcamp]
