- Here's a record you didn't see coming: Jorge Velez doing nosebleed techno. Velez, under a variety of guises, has turned his hand to Italo disco, drone, ambient and, of course, the rugged analogue house he's best known for, but nothing this intense. Intramuros is quite a leap, but it's one that Velez makes with ease, as if he's been doing this stuff forever.
Drums aside, "Les Meandres" sounds as if it's being played from inside a tin can (but it's a lot better than that sounds). The synth melodies are shredded almost to oblivion, but the refrain that's left is the EP's highlight. "Tunnel" again employs thin, metallic scraps of sound, but a looping one-note chord and a steady 909 make it a little less prickly. The testiness doesn't let up on "Hydrocution," which bubbles almost to boiling point with sharp sounds and bleeps, but the EP's truly paranoid moment is "Blue Bottle." Its manic shaker, laid over a sickly ambient hum, vibrates like the angry end of a rattlesnake. On a big rig, it'll have bite.
TracklistA1 Les Meandres
A2 Blue Bottle
B1 Tunnel
B2 Hydrocution