This latest offering from aDepth is definitely a break with the past. I’d come to associate the dutch imprint with clever techno and a touch of 90s nostalgia.
Techno is a difficult animal. To torture a metaphor, techno needs to roam. I’m not saying it should necessarily be some wild and savage creature but when farmed or domesticated, as many pioneers of the sound have become, loses its essence. It’s a style that cannot be breed or forced, it’s a style whose roots and honesty make it what it is.
This labored comparison aside, aDepth Audio is a label that has always pioneered exemplary machine music. It’s releases, from trailblazers like Arne Weinberg and Titonton to once novices like Crystal Maze, take on the annals of Detroit, Germany and the UK without getting bogged down in the weight of the past. Instead the dutch label has sought artists who are schooled in the genre and sensitive to the subtleties demanded.
It’s for this reason that the recent announcement of Kat Channel caused an involuntary furrowing of the brow. This is a new grouping, or a pairing ready to introduce their first EP. The constituent parts? Snuffo from Snuff Crew. The German artist has been pretty prolific, releasing on a host of labels in a career spanning nearly a decade. Yet, the style pursued has been mostly house centered. Second member is Spain’s Alienata, a DJ favorite of many. This unlikely combination have come together for a four tracker.
Brows became further knitted on a first listen to the 12”.“Beauty Of Sadness” seeks and shifts. Thick percussion and strings coiling around echoing samples and subdued acid lines. And this is what characterizes the EP. A hazy, late night, smoke filled back-room vibe is central. Sleepy, swimming sounds with a beat to lead the way, as in the mists of “The Appearance.” But within that fog lies a punch, searing claps cascading to give a sly slap. Soon the mind had relaxed. Not because Beauty of Sadness is a mild mannered and melodic journey, but because in those absorbing rhythms lies something. “Love Conflict” is prove of this. Gently distorted the track grows into itself. Plinks resonate into wet snares and lonely harmonies for a brooding work. The Volksfreude remix of the title piece is the most devilish outing on the 12”. Chicago currents are ploughed into the original as 303 claws sink in. Yet this isn’t fire and brimstone, instead it’s slow burning interpretation; one with menace and muscle.
This latest offering from aDepth is definitely a break with the past. I’d come to associate the dutch imprint with clever techno and a touch of 90s nostalgia. There’s truth to that with many of their previous releases are prized records in my collection. But it always dangerous to pigeonhole, and aDepth isn’t letting itself be stereotyped with a meandering, wandering and solid first outing from Kat Channel.
Beauty of Sadness is available on aDepth Audio.
