Rising German producer Barnt loves to get weird. Ariola follows last year's unhinged "Geffen," where odd noises and squeaks made you want to spray WD-40 on the creaky beat. His second EP on Cómeme makes the first look straitlaced, and begs the question: just how strange can you get with a club track and still call it a club track?
"Tunsten" sounds cheeky from the beginning, with a kind of exaggerated dawdling motion. None of that matters when the song's pirouetting lead comes up from below, clearing out everything else until the drums bust back with awkward blasts of synth. The track doesn't really go anywhere—except into oblivion. While that's entertaining (and pretty hilarious) on the first few goes, the gimmick quickly becomes tired.
The other two songs use the same chalky synth lead in more familiar contexts. "Stac" is better, with deep sustain running underneath a militaristic beat. "Ariola" sounds like another "Geffen" retread with its abandon contained, and both of these eventually suffer the same sapped spirit. A "Melopella" version of "Tunsten" rounds off the EP, coating the track in orchestral dread and quelling whatever the hell happens on "Tunsten." It's all quite daring, but feels kooky for the sake of being kooky.
