Protect-U - Motorbike

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  • Washington D.C.'s Protect-U (Aaron Leitko and Mike Petillo) may have temporarily made the jump from Future Times to Planet Mu, but their sound hasn't changed one whit: we're still talking clattery Roland TR units, unvarnished analog synthesizers and a jammy, real-time sensibility—programmed on machines rather than bricked together in Ableton—that finds common cause with retro-futurists like Legowelt. "Motorbike" gets off to a stumbling start, with an uneven bassline nosing through flanged hi-hats and syncopated claps, but it soon assumes almost epic proportions, with gleaming pads sketching a sad, stately melody that'll stay with you long after the track has ended. "Lawndog" is more convoluted, with a meandering melody that brings to mind the kind of bedroom synthesizer funk you might find on a private-pressing LP from the early '80s. Nominally 4/4, the Latin-tinged rhythm has a strange kind of shuffle, with shakers and rimshots lending a rushing, hiccupping groove. Finally, "Invisible Halo" is a misty-eyed, slow-motion electro-funk number; if Michael Mann ever made a film about a romance gone sour, this would be a perfect fit for the melancholic climax.
  • Tracklist
      A Motorbike B1 Lawndog B2 Invisible Halo
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