- Italian duo Gianluca Meloni and Dino Sabatini are probably best known for the mind-bending techno they create together as Modern Heads—a collaboration that briefly ceased when Sabatini and the alias moved to Berlin while Meloni remained in Rome to tend to his mastering studio as well as his new Not From Earth project. On Anthemusa, the second release on Sabatini's new Outis imprint, the longtime friends offer no compromise to the uninitiated, but the record should be warmly received by fans eager to hear some gritty new stuff from the duo.
Of the two lengthy tracks on Anthemusa, Meloni's "Ostinate Sin" is the more demanding one. Turn it up and you'll hear how every third kick is accented, and while other percussive elements play out in common time, the emphasis is firmly on the polyrhythmic hypnosis created between those drums and a nervous rash of offbeat bleeps. Sabatini handles the remix on the flip, and he opts for a heavily swung 4/4 rhythm that sounds just a bit smoother than the original. Still, his effort holds more peak-time potential: among the jagged chords and creepy-crawly bits of sound that scale upward and downward, Sabatini slowly lets loose a series of climactic choruses. The aim of both tracks is obvious—to modulate your brain until it's a pile of mush on the dance floor—and these Modern Heads have clearly hit the right frequencies.
Tracklist A Ostinate Sin
B Ostinate Sin (Dino Sabatini Remix)