- The first Paling Trax emerged last September veiled in mystery. Rotterdam artists Stranger and Lenson have since been outed as the masterminds, and the second edition finds Lenson stepping up again, this time with Brazilian unknown Coastdream. Once more, the sound is dirty, raw and wonderfully unkempt.
For his two tracks, Lenson sticks to a rave-inciting techno framework. "Sigma" uses rusty hi-hats and a bubbling electro-acid undercarriage to great effect. "Complete Muppets" switches things up: it opens with a percolating groove, before the acid faucet it turned and the dark ooze is spread all over the place.
Coastdream's work is so unhinged it could fall to pieces at any minute. The production is deliberately rough and unbalanced, sounding like VHS tape going into meltdown in the "The Key"'s midsection. A chewed-up vocal sample and '90s-esque chords wrestle with brazen percussion, and the sound is crude yet feisty. "Untitled" has something undeniably dreamy at its core, but its brash outer shell has rowdier intentions. Despite its lack of polish, Paling Trax 2 still hits the spot.
TracklistA1 Lenson - Sigma
A2 Coastdream - The Key
B1 Coastdream - Untitled
B2 Lenson - Complete Muppets