Unknown - The UMBRA Series Vol. 1

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  • UMBRA is a new concept from Texas drum & bass outlier Warm Communications, where tracks are presented without artist credits, titles or any context whatsoever. Depending on how you see it, the anonymity is either a marketing gimmick or a way to play with expectations. Either way, the first UMBRA release is more workmanlike than life-changing. It's another solid release for an underrated label whose take on the genre usually ends up as emotionally charged as it is physical. It's hard to say whether the same producer made both tracks, but it certainly doesn't seem like it. The A-side is an intricate roller, held down by a vocal sample and chord stabs that suffer a barrage of percussive pins and needles. With its subtle time-stretching effects and frenetic pace, it carries a whiff of Rockwell or Warm alumni Stray, but it feels like it'd be a minor track in either artist's catalogue. The flipside lives in a more Autonomic world, with an ASC-style broken beat, icy vocals and warm synth flutters stretching out over a canyon of reverb. Its spacious soundstaging and evocative melodies do more to justify the record's cryptical presentation than the pedestrian A-side.
  • Tracklist
      A Track 1 B Track 2
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