(02.08.09) It’s 2009 and the Glaswegian mech-men of Mighty Robot Recordings are quick out of the traps with a fresh new slab of vinyl. The Scottish imprint is offering up Plug, a four tracker by the French duo of Katelectro vs Jausaz the Shining. Mighty Robot have an ear for good electronics, demonstrating this through their catalog of firm favorites and newcomers to the scene. So how have the latest pairing from L’Hexagone faired in comparison to the label’s impressive output.
Unlike many electro labels, the Might Robot boys are not afraid to experiment with their labels sound. From electronic, to dirty electro and into jacking house, this crowd are willing to give it a go. Kateelectro vs Jausaz the Shining does not signal a huge shift in the Mighty Robot sound, but it is a slight detour. The EP title track “Plug” is first up for aural grabs. Pangs of sound usher in the track before a fiendish synthline props up echoing French femme vocals. The track is powerful, but not in an uptempo way. The chords chosen by the pair are dark and solid, looming in a seedy corner of the floor to impart a heavy and almost claustrophobic energy. Another new embarking follows, Ottomatique’s remix of “Plug.” The darkness is left behind as light 1980s style synthesizer reverberation hold up elegant key taps and soundwaves, with the lyrics being retained to produce a wonderful counterbalance to the original.
Pulling the shutters closed, flicking off the light and hitting on the strobe is Ultradyne with his Detroitly dark remix of “Plug.” The lyrics take on a new dimension as Ultradyne industrializes the beats of the original to produce an eerie motor city solitude. English male vocals are injected, bullying their French female counterpart as the beats are bubbled and reduced to create a resonating and unnerving work. The lights never come on again on this record, but Jausaz the Shining does raise them a little with his squelching analogue work “Art of Noise.” Plodding bass introduces the track whilst solid snares are built. The track has a playfulness to it, with shards of bleeps working their way through a fog of bass and synth to leave the record on a warmer note.
Plug feels like a gamble of a release. But it seems that Mighty Robot Recordings never take a wild risk, but educated ones. The title track has a power in it that has been mirrored and reflected in two intriguing and quite disparate remixes by Ottomatique and Ultradyne. The EP ends quite nicely too, staying in new waters but ones that have been thoroughly investigated by the EP. It is the Glasgow imprint’s ability, and desire, to test its limits that has kept it sounding as fresh today as when it first put out The Open Den (Parts) over four years ago.
Plug is out now on Mighty Robot.
