- With appearances at the long-running Total Confusion parties and their own Cologne Sessions nights, newcomers Aroma Pitch have a sound forged in the emotive cauldron of Cologne dance music in the shadow of Kompakt, pillowy workouts that evolve with a casual confidence. For the first release on their own vinyl-only Aroma Pitch Recordings, the trio of Jesse Scherwitz, Julius Richter and Magnus von Welck provide three tracks that throb with economical snatches of melody and morning-after warmth.
The A-side "Stessi" builds on a weathered three-note slide and elongated bursts of heavy-lidded synths that cool the sweat of a 4/4 kick. It's an evasive maze, the bassline treading lightly as if hesitant to weigh down proceedings. This is in contrast to the workmanlike clapboards that slam against the squiggly lines of "Ville," a hardscrabble slab of acid that could benefit from more action beyond the single static gurgle. Still, the economy of motion works in tandem with airy synth beds to bring to mind high noon on a Sunday, your brain figuring between what's an exhaustive loop and what promises further dance floor action.
The second track on the B-side, "Ruff Lake," is equally contained and insistent, computerized bells blinking around hi-hats and an effusive melody that thickens between oozing handclaps. The last minute grins with a sense of possibility and through-the-looking-glass refractions, brief arpeggios squawking through the morning sun.
TracklistA Stessi
B1 Ville
B2 Ruff Late