- Put Ripperton into the new German dreamy and emotional bag alongside Superpitcher and Patrick Chardronnet. Well, he’s Swiss, but you get the idea. He’s released a bunch of stuff as one half of Lazy Fat People, which seems to be all about the big noisy hooks (Their new remix of Solieb’s ‘Isotropy’ is noisy and big big big) but under his own name Raphaël Ripperton seems to be opting for moodier fare. On this limited edition on Num, he’s teaming up with She DJ Masaya (Chilean) who, among other things has the best promo shots ever.
‘Love Is’ has a lush four-note synth repeating for five minutes in that stately prog fashion, but unlike a lot of the genre it doesn’t feel like, well, fifty minutes. Okay, that was rude. But it seems that anytime someone holds a note on a synth for longer than a second, the English-speaking world dubs it prog. What's with that? Anyway, then halfway through the reverie (which is ten minutes long), the synth vanishes and the track suddenly, and surprisingly, turns into a tough barebones sub-bass loop (which sounds sampled from Butane’s ‘How Low Can You Go?’ Cool idea). The contrast benefits both. It’s an exercise in girl versus guy, or nice versus nasty, or even (okay then) prog vs. minimal. Excellent stuff, and very handy if you’re a DJ and you want to bridge something soppy into pots and pans.
‘Long Distance’ is Detroit stabs, pitchshifted pings and again a three-note melody, which all sounds rather familiar, but not in a good way (Either I’ve heard it out fifteen times, or I’m experiencing déjà vu). The problem is that the pattern of the thing is established one minute in, but instead of then retooling the structure, it’s content to put its foot on the speaker stack and solo with the cutoff filter for six minutes. Messy rather than elegant.
On the whole, B-side yay, A-side nay. I also hope She DJ Masaya’s name starts a cool new trend: He DJ James Holden, She DJ Ellen Allien, He DJ Richie Hawtin, etc.