- A rare seamless integration of deep house, dub techno, and minimal, Brendon Moeller's Jazz Space EP was one of the highlights of 2007. His newest, on Mobilee's schizophrenic sub-label Leena, continues the trend, even though the results here are somehow less cohesive. In Electricity's case, the sub-genres somehow seem to fraction out within each track, with the minimal tropes largely dispensed with altogether.
"Electricity" is the best of the bunch and perhaps the only one of the three tracks that hints at minimal's taut sound palette within the texture of its air-tight melody line. The metallic dub phasing that sweeps through creates too much liquid funk, however, to keep it tied down for long. The bouncy beat and echoing diva vocals that dominate should tip you off, though: This is deep house.
"Tiger" is solid, but also the least interesting of the set. The mix here is almost 50-50 deep house and dub techno, close to some of Main Street's output. The beat is all house, while the dub stylings lash out over the top, seemingly in a disconnected void of their own. But while it's highly danceable—and listenable—it lacks an inscrutable element, such as the voice in "Electricity," to stir up the balance between the layers.
"Sweet Decay," on the other hand, is pure dub techno and could easily be an outtake from the same sessions that produced "Elixir." The kick drum and bass are buried, but fragile—like some of Quantec's recent output. The beauty here though, is that the repetition and simplicity of the opening passages do not reflect the somewhat sinister undercurrents and bubbling spaces that slowly emerge from beneath the mirrored surface.
TracklistA1 Electricity
B1 Tiger
B2 Sweet Decay