Like his fellow Workshop affiliate Kassem Mosse, Lowtec's previous tracks on Instra:mental's NonPlus+ EPs have been mechanical sleepwalks, fatigued drum machines dragging themselves to the finish line. Which is why the German producer's second release for the imprint comes as a palate cleanser: "Coldred" revs up with the usual flattened "splat" of the snares, but the bassline is a playful, musical thing. The track sounds jovial—as much as Lowtec can, anyway—and as it rolls along it collects countermelodies and vocal wails until it's a jiggling mass of catchy motifs and driving percussion.
The two flipsides don't quite share the melodic buoyancy, but they're bouncy regardless. "Darrynane" hobbles on an unsightly blend of bleeps and smeared chords, and Lowtec's typical games with reverb and delay blur the lines into a psychedelic haze. Less alienating, "Twizel" is the most familiar Lowtec track, and while it's nothing new it comes as a reassuring close to a strange EP. Faintly industrial loops and synthesized strings coat the backdrop, sealed in by a warm cloud of sub-bass, all topped off with lightly jazzy keys that strike a chord somewhere between inviting and coldly mechanistic. Which is something you could say for the whole EP, really.
Buy Lowtec - Coldred at
  
Tracklist: Lowtec - Coldred
 A Coldred
B1 Darrynane
B2 Twizel
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