The tracks are club friendly, but this is more a piece of machine reflection than bass and beat. Dark, broody and emotional in one stroke; isolated, calm and cerebral in another.
[Order page] Following the Mind Over MIDI album, Diametric. return to vinyl with Optic Nerve aka Keith Tucker. The name Keith Tucker is synonymous with electro and techno. Alongside Tommy Hamilton and William ‘BJ’ Smith, Tucker has pioneered electro with Aux 88. The Detroit based artist has a variety of styles and pseudonyms in his record bag. Under his Optic Nerve moniker Mr Tucker has graced a spread of imprints, such as Direct Beat and Delsin. For Diametric., the traditional techno four tracker has been left in the past and a total of seven pieces are embedded on this latest offering: 3 Dimensional.
The opener is the vocal version of “Virtual Depth Perception.” At the core of the track is a wonderful warbling dubby quality, with male vocals working along the lines of a sample. The track has a decent pace to it, and a dark morose undercurrent. But it is the melody that grabs the listener, as it squirms and turns in on itself with metallic loose twangs. The same depth runs into “Illusionist Theme.” The beats are solid but it is the chords that again grip, innocently coiling and constricting eardrums. A twilight note hangs over the piece, one which seems to run through the record. Soulful and cold and an excellent piece of techno. The heady sounds of “Retina Display Scan” starts out the flipside. Echoing female samples interject the glistening sounds pouring forth, with deep bass tones dappled throughout. Stretched synth strings descend to add a a new element to this vibrant piece. Only complaint, it ends too soon. Tucker serves up four snippets next, submersed DJ tools from “Virtual Depth Perception.” After the three “Dimension (Interlude)” pieces is the Acapella Version of the opening piece. The vocals that once lay in the backdrop are brought to the foreground to leave an eerie electronic resonance on the EP.
This record isn’t really a seven tracker, it’s a three with some filler. Not to say the DJ tools aren’t interesting, but they are brief. Nevertheless, it is the first trio of tracks that are the center of this EP. There’s a twinge of a future gaze in here (summed up in the track titles) but this 12” has a solid techno footing. The tracks are club friendly, but this is more a piece of machine reflection than bass and beat. Dark, broody and emotional in one stroke; isolated, calm and cerebral in another. Some claim that techno has lost its way. Maybe it’s the listener who is unsure of the destination, Optic Nerve isn’t.
3 Dimentional will be released June 6th, 2011 on Diametric. [Order page]
Optic Nerve – 3 dimensional ep 12″ (8-diam.) – PREVIEW by diametric-music
