Vaghe Stelle - H.O.P.E.

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  • Italian producer Vaghe Stelle is a good fit for Gang Of Ducks: his music is every bit as beguiling as the label's past five releases. All four tracks here are built on rhythms that feel like they can barely maintain momentum, and, like the recent Shape Worship release, H.O.P.E. bleeds fluidly through genres. The lagging drums on "4th Hope" are mere texture behind a cascading wall of synths—imagine a marching band trying to play Kassem Mosse. Percussion is more prominent on "8th Hope," an industrial-inspired tune with the same mournful fake brass now coloured with anxiety. "10th Hope" hinges on an acrid drum break and what sounds like a dusty Bollywood sample, while "11th Hope" a weary trudge through dense sonic muck. The track is half dance, half abstract sound design. It wouldn't be the easiest thing to fit into a DJ set, but it would certainly stand out. The remixes don't do much to groom the tracks for dance floors, or improve them at all for that matter. Best Available Technology's sparse-to-a-fault "4th Hope" remix sprinkles elements of the original over a bassline that wriggles back and forth. Gang Of Ducks themselves offer up a techno-oriented rework that struggles to break out of an impenetrable wall of filters. You're better off with the originals.
  • Tracklist
      A1 4th Hope A2 8th Hope A3 10th Hope A4 11th Hope B1 4th Hope (Best Available Technology Remix) B2 8th Hope (G.o.d. Remix)
RA