Ben Sims - Slow Motion

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  • He'd be the last one to shout about it, but Ben Sims is one of techno's most reliable practitioners. The three original tracks on "Slow Motion" constitute his return to singles after last year's debut album, Smoke & Mirrors. They also mark the extracting of his Theory Records imprint from winter mothballs. You may have heard the title track on Marcel Fengler's Berghain 05 mix CD; it spirals around an urgent synth loop and galloping percussion, briefly trespassing into tribal territory at one point. "New Blood" bursts into action with a teak-tough, driving kick drum/hi-hat combo before settling down to a slamming tech-funk rhythm, while the last of Sims' own productions, "Straight From Bolivia," is an oppressive romp that pumps with piston-like intensity. The remixes come from techno's top table. Rolando's take on "New Blood" delivers an injection of spacey tribalism into the mix, while Robert Hood's masterful version sees metallic tom-toms and the tsk-tsk of the hats smeared all over a gritty funk underpinning. That Swedish duo Skudge can't quite live with the pace set by their illustrious peers is understandable; their rerub of "Slow Motion" doesn't veer much from the original aside from a fattened up bassline and a slightly more insistent kick. This is music that's not fancy or overly trendy, just reliably Ben Sims.
  • Tracklist
      A Slow Motion B New Blood (Rolando remix)
RA