- An ambitious, impressive EP from the producer behind a key label.
- I have plenty of time for an artist like P.Leone. Salvatore Carlino is essentially a techno producer, and has evident respect for the fundamentals of the genre. But he's also curious and is—relatively speaking in the often conservative world of techno—frequently a risk-taker. This shows up in his willingness to weave in a bold vocal (see Moments Of Peace Within). Or bookend direct techno cuts with two very different shades of broken-beat tracks, as he did on The Genesis Of A Flower in November. He signs artists to his label, E-Missions, who seem to share this attitude. (Among many highlights, the outlandish techno of Rush Plus's The Sweat stood out in 2018.) Carlino returns to E-Missions for Raw Emotion, his most ambitious and impressive EP so far.
This might not seem like the most favourable link to make now the track is fronting a major BMW advert on TV, but Raw Emotion mostly sits in the same broken, ravey, nostalgic bracket as Bicep's "Glue." Salvatore's version of the sound is rawer, more pumped up and a little rougher, but he hits the same sort of emotional heights. If this is getting you excited, head straight to "Never Alone," "Precious Standards," "We Don't Talk To 12" and "Anche Se" to take your pick from Salvatore's various expressions of the weepy breaky banger. I'm glad he included the more devious electro thumper "Let's Give Up Together," as it provides some welcome contrast to the EP's dewy-eyed moments elsewhere. "Factory Free" is another of the euphoric ones. The anthemic, organ-like melody is framed by a degraded techno thump, like Shed warped by the sun. That it's the only four-on-the-floor track here is more evidence that Salvatore pushed himself to attain something different this time out.
Tracklist01. Never Alone
02. Precious Standards
03. Let's Give Up Together
04. We Don't Talk To 12
05. Factory Free
06. Anche Se