- Martin Nowakowski's first EP, Reframe, was just released on Hamburg's Room With A View, and it positively drips with the bullishness of a producer just settling in. A few missteps aside, Nowakowski gives us a promising debut-in-earnest. From the sound of it, the EP's title cut blasted off long before we reached it, leaving Nowakowski with few viable options for fleshing it out. For a track pointing so emphatically toward the ethereal, "Reframe" feels rather weighted down by itself, its dub chords perfectly wispy on their own but a little oppressive as wave after wave of them fill in every conceivable open space. From here, things get markedly better. "Pet in My Sea" gives us a good deal more breathing room, letting its humbly plaintive melody sing out even when its chunky percussion is at its thickest.
Flash-frying little bits of sampled melody in its hefty low end, "Highdub" is the collection's most conventionally club-ready track. "Out Of Cage" puffs itself out much like the title cut, though its purposeful bass bounce keeps it pinned to the earth. Nowakowski likely has much of his production career in front of him, and while the Reframe EP leaves him with a pretty open road, he certainly sounds like he's got enough passion to keep his engine running.
Tracklist 1. Reframe
2. Pet In My Sea
3. Highdub
4. Out Of Cage