Undefined shapes mix with familiar echoes before waves of the new wash away these scraps of recognition. Mind the gap as you pass into Metropolis.
Nick Lapien cut his vinyl teeth, as Metropolis, on Other Heights with The Guardian of the Heart Machine. The 12″ mapped an introverted Techno, one of deep chasms and the artist, photographer and sound sculptor returns to wax with two new tracks. This time the Dutch man has been picked up by New York’s Sequencias for A Machine of Desire.
“A Machine of Desire” is a smooth piece of Chicago refurbishment. Sleek notes are coupled with toms and bass to produce a tunneling effect. A decent pace brings a touch of vertigo and the dreamlike to the track. A looming piece with a solid amount of punch to demolish the right dancefloor. “The Flood” falls under the same category as some more recent Sequencias outings, more of an experimental trip. Melodies stumble into one another, chords cascading and floating in a drunken haze of analogue wiring. Beats are removed in this cerebral piece of ambient abstraction to keep the sleeper sedate in this whirling of winds.
This Dutch artist caught my imagination last year. His style harked back to some of the core elements of Techno, drawing on Detroit and the UK to build tracks for both the floor and headphones. A Machine of Desire sees Lapien enhance his experimental fervor. House is one of the chemicals in the Metropolis compound, but this is merely an elemental hook. Undefined shapes mix with familiar echoes before waves of the new wash away these scraps of recognition. Mind the gap as you pass into Metropolis.
The Flood is available on Sequencias.
