- Workshop has produced its share of dance floor bombs—Kassem Mosse's Workshop 19 album was rife with them—along with slower and more ruminative work. The label's latest, from label boss Lowtec, is of a piece with the latter, though all three cuts slay in their own way. You don't have to suspend disbelief all that much to imagine the A-side doing damage in the club—at least for the first half. Led by an unreasonably heavy clang on the backbeat, the cut overcomes its own wooziness, even celebrating the feat with a cryptically motivating vocal sample: "Moving! We can!" Then about halfway through, it switches gears completely, cutting the tempo to a hip-hop trot and filling the mix with ghostly voices and paranoid pads. It certainly still pumps, though all but the most adventurous house jocks will have to save this one for home listening.
Ditto the B-side. The first track ups the tension with double-time drums, but the melody is resolutely laid-back and funky. It's hard to tell which mood wins out; in the end, like a musical Rubin vase, I'd say it's in the eye of the beholder. There's less ambiguity on the B2, with its ultimately slow roll, out-of-tune melodies and queasy delays. Calling this music "thrilling" wouldn't be quite right, but if you find yourself checking your pulse while giving Workshop 20 a spin, it's certainly not out of boredom.
TracklistA1 Untitled
B1 Untitled
B2 Untitled