- There's something brewing in Uruguay. This country of just three million is a fertile breeding ground for high quality DJs, even though its stars (DJ Koolt, Z@p, Fabricio) remain relatively unknown to audiences abroad. Until a few years ago, this mostly Montevideo-based community, which counts the Berlin-based Nicolas Lutz as its most famous export, didn't have a club to rally around. That changed in 2013 with the arrival of Phonotheque, a much-loved venue in south Montevideo. The scene is also generating a catalogue of tracks to sit alongside its growing list of pro-level selectors. The latest arrival is Two Bridges, from Luis Malon & Ovach, who team up for the second release on Fede Lijt's El Milagro Records.
What's striking about Two Bridges is that it has very little in common with the increasingly breaks- and electro-oriented European sound many DJs in Montevideo look to for inspiration. It feels as suited to Ben Klock and The Black Madonna as it does Nicolas Lutz. The title cut, a collaboration from both producers, is an uncompromising rave tune built with powerful drums, piano stabs and a synth riff that feels straight off an early Jaydee record. "Charrua En Bote," a solo Luis Malon cut, is similarly high-octane, combining uncomplicated melody lines with layers of whistling synths and frantic shifts in energy. Ovach's sub-100 BPM "Futurist Manifiesto" is more in line with experimental hip-hop than techno—spin it at 45 to get it at a playable tempo.
TracklistA1 Ovach & Luis Malon - Two Bridges
B1 Luis Malon - Charrua En Bote
B2 Ovach - Futurist Manifesto