- It's no secret that revivalism is a dominant force in dance music these days, but one area that hasn't quite been dug up is late-90s IDM. Not necessarily Aphex Twin—the deeper stuff, the nerdier stuff. It's a sound that former drum & bass producer Consequence has been hinting at as his work has become weirder, and his metamorphosis looks complete with his new Etcht project. The multimedia label's first venture was a sample pack from the perennially underrated Arovane, and its first release explores the same frigid beauty as that German producer. What it might lack in originality, it makes up for with the same emotive streak that made Consequence's past work so memorable.
Opener "Lyon" sounds like dried-up jungle. It's as if the high-end of an amen break was left over from some old tune, pitter-pattering around haunting bells. "Oeraser" takes the same scuttling micro-percussion, but this time spreads it around a new-agey melody and sombre synth figures. Slowing things down to half time, "Modu1" is a mournful number that basically stretches the Autonomic template out until it's a staggering crawl. Closing out the record, "Ressed" keeps the same deflated vibe, melting into chorused guitar á la Cocteau Twins before its electrical current of a percussion track snaps back into place. It's another left turn into abstract beauty for a producer whose career has been full of them.
TracklistA1 Lyon
A2 Oeraser
B1 Modu1
B2 Ressed