- After an EP of barnstorming techno for Templar Sound, Beau Thigpen returns as DJ Vague for another three-tracker of unpretentious techno. As with Porsche Trax, the tunes on Hard Workin Trax are Formula 1 fast. Lean and mean, the record proves once again that you need neither lo-fi flourishes nor high production values to make killer techno.
Hard Workin Trax is a rip-roaring EP, with the slowest tune clocking in at 127 BPM. That one is hard and gravelly, rinsing a chord stab with a sly bounce that would fit on a Blueprint record. The faster second track trades the heavy techno thump for something sleek and dynamic, with chords that whiz by like passing objects left in the dust. Number three blasts off into the stratosphere completely, feeling oddly weightless at a formidable 147 BPM as the frenetic drum pattern floats and skips. With trippy synths that seem to leave vapour trails, there's something curiously beautiful about it.
TracklistA1 Hard Workin Trax 1
B1 Hard Workin Trax 2
B2 Hard Workin Trax 3