With all those indie-rock records, it’s been a year since I bought the last CD on Warp. Two Lone Swordsmen too went indie, while I was waiting for a badass electro album, after the beautiful Radioactive Man’s Booby Trap. I was almost hopeless when suddenly this 1 Up came out.
This EP (or mini-LP) is the most effective and fresh breaks-based record in a long time. It’s not cutting-edge breakcore or crazy DSP, but it’s very dancefloor friendly stuff, tightly produced and with some nice crunchy effects. Beats and basses are smashing, ruff, with menacing ragga samples used as powerful hooks, especially in the first two tracks, ”Billy Hologram” and ”So Malleable.” ”Cowboy” turns to mutant garage-sound embedded with videogame samples –a crisp tune to be mixed with ”My Red Hot Car” (Squarepusher). ”Iacon” releases some techstep pressure (remember No-U-Turn?) updated 2K4, with asymmetric beats and killer drops. With ”Flex” you can almost touch Peace Off territories; the breaks are so mashed and distorted that they nearly reach breakcore rawness.
No shit, Milanese is a don, this won’t be the groundbreaking record of 2K4 but it’s pure fun, and of the best quality. The matter is, 28 minutes are not enough. I really hope I won’t have to wait another year to hear some more.
1 Up is out now on Warp Records.
