- Les Enfants Terribles is a four-year-old party from Amsterdam and now a fledgeling label. In June of last year, JP Enfant launched the eponymous label with his Dreaming Backwards EP, offering three sleek house and techno tracks with an industrial edge. The trouble is, Robin Kampschoer's IO could be described in exactly the same way, which is particularly problematic for a label pushing such a familiar sound.
"IO"'s central four-note melody spirals in a space that hisses with expertly reverberated hi-hats and rides, and about halfway into it, Kampschoer introduces synths that resemble an elegant trance build-up. At this point, the track still has the potential to go somewhere, but Kampschoer lets the momentum wilt. It's left to Luke Hess and his remix to wring life from "IO." The Detroit native gives Kampschoer's chords a viscous density, spreading them over more of the track, but he doesn't have many other ideas to fix the track's dreary limp. "Elements" is a lot better: as with its counterparts, the percussion ticks along precisely, but Kampschoer crafts his neck-snapping rhythm from a chopped grunt and a spray of sonar pings. It's a shame the rest of IO doesn't rattle along with the same energy.
TracklistA1 IO
A2 Elements
B1 IO (Luke Hess Remix)