Matrixxman - StuxNet

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  • If you feel like Charles McCloud Duff has been everywhere lately, you're not wrong. The San Francisco producer released seven EPs in 2014 alone. His latest, for Spectral Sound, returns to the retro Chicago sounds of his previous EP for the Ghostly subsidiary. This time his sights are set squarely on the squelchy stuff, with two lean and mean acid cuts. The versions of "StuxNet" are two sides of the same coin, with furiously scribbling basslines that seem to go on forever and only occasionally pause for breath. The first part of "StuxNet" is the highlight, looking to the earliest acid records to capture their excitable drum programming. The second version is trackier but reaches more frantic heights, and both parts revel in the 303's unique ability to sound batshit insane. Spectral Sound throw in two remixes of tracks from the Amulet EP to spice up the package. Hieroglyphic Being takes on "Venetian Mask" (an ode to the dreamy side of Chicago house) and turns its percussion crunchy, as if it were stomping on broken glass. The more techno-influenced "Caravan" gets handed to Silent Servant, who makes it eerie, sad and physically imposing—pretty much what you want from a Silent Servant remix. Although these additions are strong, they feel like a distraction from the pure, focused power of "StuxNet." McDuff has been both creative and diverse on his recent glut of 12-inches; here he buckles down and does one thing very well.
  • Tracklist
      01. StuxNet I 02. StuxNet II 03. Venetian Mask (The Hieroglyphic Being Experience) 04. The Caravan (Silent Servant Remix)
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