A few months back, word started circulating about a mysterious Hardwax affiliated white label that was setting Berlin's dancefloors alight with its no nonsense charm. This particular release is that very record, and we still have just as little idea of who's responsible for it as when it first started trickling out of the Kreuzberg based shop in limited quantities earlier this year. It's now been given wider distribution so that all the rest of us can get our sticky hands on it, but is the hype justifiable? If you were expecting it to be a revolutionary record that would change the face of techno music, then the answer would be a resounding 'no'. In fact, it captures the zeitgeist of today's electronic scene perfectly on both sides, injecting house's hip-shaking swing into its austere sonic palette with extremely satisfying results.
The whole of side A rides along a simple alternating pattern that flips between a grinding bass synth and rattling trebly percussion, the interesting thing being that it switches every three beats rather than four. Rather than this making it difficult to mix, its atonal reductionist nature means that you can slot it fairly easily over a standard four to the floor track to create a constantly shifting propulsive rhythm that will really work the more techno oriented floors. The energy levels are kicked up a notch halfway through when a swinging hat and snare combo joins the solitary kick drum, though this drops out just before the end to make mixing out a little easier.
Flip over to the other side and the moody heads down vibe remains, this time utilising a chugging bassline and Basic Channel style synth stabs to set the tone. Yet again the track shifts up a gear by introducing housey percussion in the middle, but its softer, more melodic approach means that it'll get a lot more love from DJs favouring the deeper style that's so in vogue at the moment. Overall, it's a stylish but incredibly functional twelve that'll still be wedged firmly in my box come the end of the year. As for who the producer is, we may never find out…
Published /
Thu, 10 Apr 2008
Buy EQD - Equalized #001 at
Tracklist: EQD - Equalized #001
A Untitled
B Untitled | 
