- There's an exquisite tension at the heart of Samuel André Madsen's music. He makes straight-forward club tracks, mostly falling between tech house and minimal, but with a sense of beauty that feels anything but utilitarian. Over the past year he's presented a cast of otherwise unknown producers—DJ Ronnie, Type X, Nopax—with similar visions of house music, each one conjuring bright, celestial spaces shot through with punchy grooves. All of them have debuted on DAHLIA, a sub-label to Delaphine, the platform Madsen uses for his productions. The second record on DAHLIA comes from Solah, a no-name artist who delivers three atmospheric groovers easily on par with Madsen's own creations.
Each track works with the same ingredients: dreamlike atmospheres, artfully constructed rhythms and drums that feel carved out of marble. They're also named, somewhat mysteriously, after the state of Wisconsin. "Wisconsin17" and "Wisconsin12" both have an air of classic microhouse, the former with its gibberish vocal sample, the latter with a mirage backdrop that recalls something like Luciano and Thomas Melchior's "Father." The mood, though, is quite different from that style, drawing more from the blissed-out palette of classic ambient than anything on Perlon or Cadenza. "Wisconsin13" has a heavier chug that doesn't show up until about four minutes in—until then, you're kept entertained by liquid chords and a shimmering, kickless beat. At 13 minutes, it's the longest track here, but not by much—all three sail past the eight-minute mark, creating a sense of vastness that only makes them more absorbing.
TracklistA1 Wisconsin17
A2 Wisconsin12
B1 Wisconsin13