- Sawf makes some of the hardest techno around, but it's usually at house tempo. It's hard to say exactly how he's able to nail a raw aesthetic so consistently, but it probably has to do with his ear for crafty samples, hard-hitting percussion and steady grooves. Sawf productions are spacious and funky, but also menacing and dark—few producers are able to combine these characteristics so effectively. The Greek's debut outing on Prosthetic Pressings, Masif, features a few examples of Sawf's trademark style.
These four cuts are as tough as steel but with enough swing to keep them buoyant. Opener "Stepa" is the only track with a straightforward beat. It chugs at 127 BPM, but it probably won't appear in many sets around that tempo. The booming drums never recede, keeping the energy high while gritty samples are looped underneath. Broken beats and ambient tracks make up the rest of the package. The melancholic shuffle of "Masifia" feels cinematic compared to the opener's brutalism, while the half-time "Kaseta" is probably only suitable for very early (or late) in a night. Both are decent, but by the time the beat-less "Kekra" hits you'll probably be craving another peak-time weapon.
TracklistA1 Stepa
A2 Masifia
B1 Kaseta
B2 Kekra