- Stick on the first of the five on Paco Osuna's debut for Plus 8 and you might start thinking this release would be better suited to the label’s slimmer younger brother. Yet the Spaniard can't hide his true colours – he may have taken his foot off the gas a bit in recent times, but there is most definitely 'a point' to everything here: all five sleek, intense similar-but-different slammers feature some sort of floor-friendly pay-off.
So 'Crazy' might not make the most auspicious of starts – it all sounds a bit, um, minimal – but stick with it. Osuna slowly build layers over precise drums before the flanged FX and wonky siren break free for two brief rampages. A taste of things to come? Yup. 'Alsound' will step up your interest: a warped, warping bassline slowly creeps in, before an unexpected hit: clunking, clipped Relief-style hats add some swing as reverbed bleeps and burps build. Then the money shot: a mini-'A Walking Contradiction'-style meltdown before that bassline is assaulted and gets dragged, kicking and screaming, off to infinity.
'Joakhim' is leaner and busier. The bumbling sub, scatter-shot FX work and clever programming - including two drops: one tight, one downright explosive – mark this one out as the black sheep. We get a breather on 'Seschamps': there’s a whiff of Chicago to the restrained drums and rat-a-tat hats before a stabbed bleepoid riff and looped sub show their true colours. The digital-only track 'Creteine' - which cropped up on Marco Carola's recent Fabric mix – drops another gear: rubbery acid bass, dry snares served with varying degrees of reverb and Sakho-style drones do their thing until it all kicks off for a brief, frantic flash. Phew. Five tracks, one common purpose.
TracklistA1 Crazy
A2 Alsound
B1 Joakim
B2 Sechamps
1 Creteine (digital only)