- Dense & Pika's Hotflush debut stands to raise the UK duo's profile considerably, but they sound just as strong on the fourth untitled EP on their own, eponymous label. Dense & Pika favor stern machine rhythms, swollen low-end, and a clenched-fist sense of menace that's not too far off from Turbo's recent techno releases; here, as on most of their work, there's something almost tool-like about their relentlessly stripped-back grooves, but they also flirt with unabashedly anthemic dimensions. That's certainly true on "Who Cares Who Wins," which opens with gritty, phased hi-hat patterns only to explode a supersaturated synthesizer melody that falls somewhere between Oni Ayhun's "OAR003-A" and Acquiescence's "Nocturnal Wave"; it's a big, climactic track that just keeps on giving.
"Morse Code" is tougher and more ominous; it spins like a cyclone in a broom closet, all clatter and claustrophobic reverb. It's also a little gimmicky, using a Morse Code instruction record—featuring the kind of dated, '60s-sounding male voice that scratch DJs used to love so much—as the setup for its squealing, dots-and-dashes punchline. Its forcefulness is slightly undercut by the hokey voice; an instrumental edit would have been nice. Fortunately, with "Crackling," the duo digs into a no-fills jack track that requires no mental filtering. With its clanging dub chords and lumbering, elephantine gait, it sounds like an homage to Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1 series, only updated with 2012's penchant for gristle and grit. More than a clever tribute, it's a cracking tune in its own right, balanced tantalizingly between functionalism and something subtly more dramatic.
TracklistA Who Cares Who Wins
B1 Morse Mode
B2 Crackling