The Dying Lights showcases the quality of Lux, past, present and more than likely future. If you’re new to the Swiss label you’re in for an deep cross section of what the past half decade has been about. If you’re a solid fan, plain and simple you’re in for a treat. Here’s to five more years.
Five years ago I was living in Glasgow. It seems like longer now but there you go. A friend of a friend was over doing a bit of painting in the flat I was renting. I was playing the first record from a new imprint out of Zurich, Lux Rec, by a fledgling Acid musician from Detroit: Jared Wilson. And back to now. Said painter, last I heard, was in London fixing synths. I now live in Madrid. Jared Wilson has grown as an artist and Lux Rec has bloomed into a premier electronic platform. The Dying Lights hasn’t been marketed as an anniversary compilation, but the double album of veterans and newcomers feels like a birthday celebration.
Villa Abo, of Borft fame, flicks the switch with “Luminous.” Half of Frak, this Swedish producer refuses to adhere to any one style. Electro, Techno, House, Acid and outright noodling are scrambled in the pot. However, “Luminous” is a much more orderly affair. Slender keys cascade around a slow and rhythmic pulse. Hi-hats scatter, warmth filling speakers in this beautifully complex work. The collection has, as the title might suggest, light as a central tenant. The dawning continues with Lux family member CCO, aka Florin Büchel, and his 303 tinged sunrise “Pale Distant Lights.” Büchel creates an involving yet, undeniably, removed work. Echoes send chords back into themselves, a brittle and watery sun denting a dense modular fog. The flip is occupied by the only track I’ve ever had any involvement in. Alright, I didn’t have any involvement bar my x0xbox was borrowed and used by Sneaker and Juanpablo’s in the making of “A New Obscurity.” House is the mode of exploration. Clean claps and thick bass giving way to squelch. Bruising weight is balanced by lighter moments as dusk already sets in. The shadows stretch ever further as Drvg Cvltvre gathers gloom for the ashen “Endless Night.” Echo 106 continue the cloud coverage as “Blackness” ups the tempo and lowers the lights. The final instalment brings together label co-founder Daniele Cosmo and Luciano Lamanna, of Lunar Lodge and Love Blast fame, for a soot smeared send off. “The Darkest Hour” is just that. Drums are bashed and bullied, melodies mined from the murkiest of margins for a piece of tar-tinged Techno.
The Dying Lights showcases the quality of Lux, past, present and more than likely future. If you’re new to the Swiss label you’re in for an deep cross section of what the past half decade has been about. If you’re a solid fan, plain and simple you’re in for a treat. Here’s to five more years.
The Dying Lights is available on Lux Rec.
