- Turin-based Und are among the most laugh-out-loud funny of techno producers - the irritatingly catchy 'Cocopuffs' and 'Racehorse' from Triple R's Selection 3 fearlessly disrupted tough but glossy programming with dark (and dumb) wit.
'Fox in a Box' is a low-slung mid-tempo trawler that again explores the Traum fascination with things in boxes. The vocal is nursery-rhyme stupidity – a duet between some London geezer and his insane ladyfriend – aimed at dancers so fucked they would find these Dr. Seussisms profound. The music is similarly buoyant: synth melodies and woozy arpeggios spiralling into the ether. It’s catchy, annoying, but terribly intoxicating.
'Rodeo' goes even further, stepping into dangerous 'Cotton-Eyed Joe' territory. Country and techno are not the easiest genres to marry, but by the skin of its tobacco-stained teeth, the track delivers the floorfilling funk of Und's best efforts. Opening with an autistic Sergio Leone guitar line and crisp hats, 'Rodeo' gallops along, literally, throwing out Western cliches on its trot: horse whinnies, gun shots, whipcracks, and a breakdown of hooves kicking up the dust. Recalling World Standard, Haruomi Hosono’s country-electronica troupe, or perhaps Peel Sessions era Rechenzentrum, Und eschew all background grit to focus upon crisp, clean drums and inventive programming.
The Crowdpleaser remix of 'Rodeo’ adds real handclaps, whistling, and Indian war-whoops, coating the track in a swirl of dust and tiny bleeps. It lopes along leisurely at just under nine minutes, sparsely persistent in the manner of Brinkmann’s Soul Center project, but this time on the trebly side of the tracks.
At around 120bpm, all tracks graduated from the Matias Aguayo/Justus Kohncke school of 'new slowness' I keep reading about but not hearing, and there is an impish charm that harks back to the early days of Cologne. There is also a gimmicky silliness that might just win out.