Spatial - Primitives

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  • Broken20 chooses to release on the format that fits the music best, rather than sticking to a plain old vinyl-and-digital arrangement. As such, they've put out cassettes—Dour Tonic Input and DJ Votive's split is one of the finest tapes you're likely to hear this year—CD-Rs, DVDs, digital releases and even an 8 GB USB containing the entire recorded output of Scottish artist Chris Dooks. This 12-inch is Broken20's first vinyl release, and given that it's the label's most club-ready record yet, it's easy to see why. Nevertheless, true to Broken20 form, Primitives will be released in full with an accompanying DVD featuring "abstract, phase-shifting experiments" made using generative audio-visual software written by Spatial. This 12-inch includes four reworks of those experiments. The first, by Spatial himself, coasts along on a jaunty, almost circus-like rhythm and metallic percussion. They coalesce into a bubbling groove that by turns strengthens and falls apart over the track's seven-minute run. Bass Clef's loose techno version is the best of the other three, with its evocative cascades of bleeps and shuffling groove. Sculpture's version is heavily reminiscent of Chiastic Slide-era Autechre, all bright-spangled clouds of amorphous electronic tones. The final rework, by TVO|SPL, a collaboration between Broken20 founder TVO and Spatial himself, is somewhere between the other two. Its marriage of gritty techno thump and abstracted electronics bring to mind Lee Gamble's recent dance floor deconstructions. Despite their origins in Spatial's generative experiments, these four reworks also work wonderfully as standalone tracks, and augur well for any dance floor-oriented releases Broken20 might choose to release in the future.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Spatial Interpretation A2 TVO|SPL Interpretation B1 Bass Clef Interpretation B2 Sculpture Interpretation
RA