- The name Gavin Guthrie might not be familiar to you, but his music probably is. Or at least you might well be convinced you've heard it before, given how similar it sounds to both the current wave of producers making raw analogue house jams and the original Detroit electro, Chicago house and Sheffield bleep artists they borrow from so liberally. Alongside Kraftwerk and synth-pop artists such as Depeche Mode, these are some of the inspirations the Texan producer displays on his latest album, a record which sadly shows that great influences don't necessarily make great music.
Guthrie was formerly a member of the Dallas duo Florene. As TX Connect, he jettisoned the more industrial elements of their style on tracks like "Primal Rage" (on L.I.E.S.) and last year's TX Acid for Dixon Avenue Basement Jams. Those records showcased a gnarly acid influence, and although that still flashes through in moments here, overall it's something he's reined in. Gavin Guthrie AKA TX Connect is more in keeping with his recent You Too 12-inch for Adelaide Sound Works, which revealed Guthrie's ability to craft a memorable melodic hook yet still end up with a fairly forgettable piece of music. That's what happens on "Soundtrack 909," which has an infectious melody, but also washes of synth and a rudimentary 4/4 rhythm. The result is pretty indistinguishable from the deep house pumped out by labels like Alola in the mid-'90s.
Not that there isn't some fine music here. "Snappy" has all the quivering low-end you'd want in an electro track, and "Haddonfield, IL" feels like Model 500 on a scenic Sunday drive (rather than cruising through Babylon). But then there are tracks like "606 Bass," a textbook piece of Chicago house which embodies the problem with this record: its brittle beats, jacking bassline and teeth-grinding synth feel like the creation of someone who's merely read about what will work on a dance floor. Keeping things too straight and narrow is a trap Guthrie regularly falls into—"Palm Sunday"'s rhythmic loops run out of steam well before the end of the track. There's very little that's truly offensive about Gavin Guthrie AKA TX Connect, but there's even less that will actually surprise you.
Tracklist01. Soundtrack 909
02. 00707"
03. Palm Sunday
04. 666 Bass
05. Metroplex Jaxx
06. Snappy
07. Aqua Finess
08. Desmonds Obsession
09. Haddonfield, IL