- New Australian minimal from the newest star of the Antipodean underground.
- In RA's end of year round-up, Melbourne-based DJ duo IN2STELLAR hailed 2023 as the year of "The Australian Sound," thanks to a new crop of producers such as Solar Suite, Aldonna and Glen S who joined established globetrotters like Fantastic Man and Roza Terenzi. Describing the music, the duo detailed a movement of festival-ready fare blending "progressive house, techno and psytrance with the organic, textural sounds of the outdoors." It's one of those you-know-it-when-you-hear-it genres. The Melbourne-born, Berlin-based producer Cooper Fraser, AKA Reflex Blue, starts the year off strong with a record that sets the benchmark for the Australian Sound in 2024.
Reflex Blue has been on a tear—he's put out seven 12-inches and a double-pack in less than two years. His latest EP, landing on Dutch tastemaker outfit Kalahari Oyster Cult, is his best yet, offering a crash course in all things Antipodean right now. The appropriately titled "Outdoor Dance" is as good a place to start as any. It's equal parts Nicolas Lutz-style techno with eerie minor chords and chunky drum programming, plus a bit of prog revival—just wait for the bush doof arpeggio he unleashes in the track's final third. The tune is big and brash, but it's not exactly big room, finished with the polished funk of a Sweely or Youandewan record.
Fraser leans trance on the wobbly A2, with little splashes of psychedelic 303s dotting the stereo field. The flipside hews closer to the new-school minimal of Fantasy Value, his 2023 release for Limousine Dream. "Low End Freqz (Dial Up Mix)" is the moneymaker. It's like a slightly more sinister take on the vintage minimal sound of Kompakt records circa '04, with skippy drums and fizzing subs making room for a dial tone that blossoms into a rich chord progression.
With each release, Fraser tweaks this style of rowdy progressive by tempering it with the intricate finesse and wiggle of contemporary minimal. It's an approach that sets him apart from his Australian peers (not to mention dance music hipsters writ large) and also draws an unexpected line between the worlds of Australia's festival scene and Europe's after-after-afterhours. It's exciting to think of what might happen next as these continents continue to collide.
Tracklist01. Outdoor Dance
02. Tension Rise
03. Creepin' Around The Bend
04. Low End Freqz (Dial Up Mix)