- The idea that techno is by definition bleak and dystopian is so ingrained in the discourse around it that it's easy to default to that interpretation. A one-time goth and post-punk DJ whose last album, Black Propaganda, was an artistic response to Spain's economic crash, Oscar Mulero probably fits that archetype more than most. And certainly, there are moments of pitch-black darkness on Muscle And Mind. "Dualistic Concept" could be a left over track from Black Propaganda—sonically desolate, dirty, battered by howling winds, it literally sounds like an abandoned industrial unit. But this album is so much more than that.
Mulero's music is often as bone-dry as Marcel Dettmann's, and in its piston-like percussive drive, it betrays his roots in banging '90s techno. But with its pulsing loops, fed through all manner of reverb, delay and stereo-panning effects—not to mention his newfound fondness for blankets of bell-like chimes—Muscle And Mind also recalls the hypnotic abstraction of Tobias Freund or even the celestial awe of Pantha Du Prince. This is hard techno, but it's expressive and spiritually uplifting, led by harmony and tiny fragments of melody.
The album turns on "Anatomical Variation," a gorgeous plume of chimes and sizzling, sandpaper sweeps. The following track, "Mentally Induced Action," is much tighter. Fast-paced and built for the dance floor, it's all compressed, fizzing energy. On "Interrelated," Mulero knits those two strands together—rippling, broken bell harmonics and a barrelling kick—to create a piece of radiant sunrise techno. In defiance of genre stereotypes, Muscle And Mind is an album of dramatic light and shade.
Tracklist01. Mind-Body Interaction
02. Dualistic Concept
03. Involuntary Response
04. Anatomical Variation
05. Mentally Induced Action
06. Interrelated
07. Mindful Body
08. 201 Element
09. Mechanical Function
10. Muscle and Mind
11. Mental Causation
12. Unconscious