Silent Servant / Santiago Salazar - La Noche / La Minoria

  • Share
  • If you've tracked Silent Servant and Santiago Salazar's work over the past year or so, you know what to expect here: gristly aggression from the former, cinematic vistas from the latter and techno classicism throughout. The second release for their Historia y Violencia joint venture, this EP doesn't attempt to merge these styles. Instead, the two producers play to their respective strengths and, if the tones contrast, hey, it's all serious techno, right? Grinding but stoic, Silent Servant's "La Noche" is cut from the same cloth as his records for Sandwell District. Treated to evoke pitch-black, enclosed spaces no matter where it's played, the ringing chords and echoing claps sound like occult ritual or, if you prefer a shorthand description, a slaughterhouse "Phylyps Trak." I shouldn't get carried away with the ghoulish terms, though. "La Noche"'s unrelenting rhythm isn't brutal so much as determined, its commanding energy staked on unreleased tension rather than chilling theatrics. Salazar's "La Minoria," on the other hand, is far less severe. Though the beat is buoyed by a pounding march of kicks, Salazar makes room for the warmer sounds of toms and shakers. The most striking difference, not surprisingly, is Salazar's abundance of melody. Animated synths flutter and meander brightly, punctuated regularly by a chime of chords that seems, each time, to announce some moment of clarity, realization or awakening of the senses. In other words, more of the deep-breath, sci-fi drama and beauty he's built a reputation on. And after the head-down, monochrome churn of the A-side, it's practically a sunrise pastoral.
  • Tracklist
      A Silent Servant - La Noche B Santiago Salazar - La Minoria
RA