- Dance music can be faceless. It's hard to get a sense of a producer's personality based on the way they arrange their synthesizers, so it's refreshing when someone like Martyn Bootyspoon delivers an EP saturated with charisma. The Montreal artist has almost no prior solo discography, though he's worked with other producers on projects for Fractal Fantasy, the label run by Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones. On Silk Eternity, he's not only the producer but the master of ceremonies, sermonizing over his own modern club rhythms.
The opening track, "Spread That Kat," sets the tone, with its oversexed lyrics and a barebones drum machine beat that borrows from Night Slugs and Chicago house. "Steam" begins like a stripped-back drum track, but it erupts unexpectedly with bright synths that disappear just as quickly. "The Grid" is hilarious, with Bootyspoon delivering an erotic monologue about cloud computing and data mining over booming 808 kicks. "What are you browsing?" he teases. "Let's go through your browser history. You browse my Instagram and your data plan is overflowing... with joy." The seductive tone is reminiscent of '90s spoken-word house tracks, especially naughty ones like Cajmere's "Chit Chat."
Speaking of Chicago, it's impressive that Fractal Fantasy wrangled a remix from one of the city's most storied producers, Steve Poindexter, who's only put out a handful of tracks in the last eight years. He straightens the spastic rhythms of "Spread That Kat" into a punishing house banger. Not only a peak-time bomb, it's also a clever bit of A&R, considering the original samples Poindexter's classic "Work That Motherfucker." On the more abstract "Helicoptah Dance," we hear Bootyspoon's knack for sound design, which comes across through the delicious synth textures. Silk Eternity is a colorful portrait of a larger-than-life character.
Tracklist01. Spread That Kat
02. Steam
03. The Grid
04. Helicoptah Dance
05. Ease U
06. Spread That Kat (Steve Poindexter Remix)
07. Steam (Xzavier Stone Remix)