- In 2016, electro is undergoing a revival of sorts. One example of this is DJs like Onur Özer and Binh, who are unearthing some of the genre's more obscure moments (as well as making their own). Whether it's a re-evaluation or a newfound appreciation hardly matters—electro has always done its thing, enjoying fleeting moments in fashion before fading from view. Sheffield's Central Processing Unit is a young electro label, launching in 2012 with an EP from Cygnus and hosting the likes of Plant43 and DMX Krew since. The label, generally the domain of staunch electro heads, takes cues from its home city's history of bleep techno, as well as purist strains of Detroit electro, consistently delivering some of the best stuff around.
Chris Roman, AKA 214, is the quintessential example of the electro dark horse. He's been diligently putting out music since 2002 from North Bend, Washington, about 30 minutes east of Seattle. The quality of his output is generally high—always competent, often excellent—though in the past year he's really started to shine, releasing a run of records for some of electro's most exciting labels. (He also dropped a criminally overlooked album on Shipwrec.) Roman looks at electro through various lenses, from dub techno to ambient. But what sets Fuel Cells apart from his recent work is a firm sense of tradition—this is good, sturdy electro without too many bells and whistles.
Lengthy opener "Overbridge" is a classic electro workout that shows how well Roman can program and layer elements in a track. It sounds like it's made up of about ten moving parts. You could choose to fixate on any one of them, like the zig-zagging bassline, or zoom out and admire the whole thing. Similiarly robotic, "Keep Right" is a punchy number that sounds like R2-D2 playing with a drum machine.
Roman's sound design talent shines on "Fuel Cells," where the bassline is upfront and everything else coats the background. It's all doused in a pool of reverb, which is unusual for a genre that favours the dry and claustrophobic. The effect turns the inward paranoia of electro into something outward-looking and melodramatic. "Greenbelt" further highlights Roman's atmospheric side without giving up the funk, with a slippery bassline that offers a good dose of melody inside the rigid framework. It's another instance of Fuel Cells adding to a long-running sound without losing sight of what's always made it so good.
TracklistA1 Overbridge
A2 Fuel Cells
B1 Keep Right
B2 Greenbelt