Terence Fixmer - Comedy Of Menace Pt. 1

  • Share
  • The darkness in Terence Fixmer's techno is well-earned. The French producer has long been interested in EBM, fusing the two genres for DJ Hell in the early '00s and forming a group with Nitzer Ebb vocalist Douglas McCarthy soon after that. In working with a singer, though, Fixmer also has had plenty of experience with the dynamic tension between clean and dirty—the push/pull of dank background and bright foreground. You can hear both at work on the first official EP in advance of Fixmer's newest full-length, his debut for Speedy J's Electric Deluxe imprint. The repeated melody in "Things Are Over" is a squealer, the sort of fire alarm bleeps that only make sense as pleasure within the context of techno. Despite the elements, it bounces like a Chicago house track, but you'd be forgiven for not noticing: Someone is saying something like the title of the song in a masked voice that is pure techno. The clean edges of A-side "Drastik" are almost too perfect, which makes Planetary Assault Systems B-side remix almost necessary. You can hear the core of Fixer's hypnotic and buffed original, but only once you've burrowed down beneath layers of grit.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Drastik A2 Things Are Over B Drastik (Planetary Assault Systems Remix)
RA