- Ñaka Ñaka's Juan Pestañas was a highlight of Opal Tapes' impressive run last year. The EP showed a staggering diversity of musical influences all wrapped up with a warm, '90s-style embrace. If the Black Opal sub-label is meant to distill Opal Tapes' essence into club-friendly slabs of wax, that's exactly what it does for the Mexican producer: Mundo Harsh offers up six typically evocative Ñaka Ñaka tracks molded into techno forms.
Mundy Harsh is musty and moist, like cardboard that's been sitting in a damp basement. It sounds old: the most prominent sounds tend to distort on impact, as with the corrugated melody of "Vibrocalyx" or the warbly, sandpaper-rough textures of "Jaaz." And even when they're not distorted, they're distant and unclear, which gives Mundo Harsh its deflated air. That comes out most literally on "sec2" (just a wounded synth riff that floats in and out of focus over its six minutes) but also in "Dardos"'s thump, which stays suspended in stasis, as if it were halfheartedly going through the motions.
That melancholy mood keeps things soft and approachable. Even the more assertive gallops of "Def Def" and "Dioges" feel almost comforting. "Def Def" is especially smart, each kick drum pounding out dust clouds around it while the other percussive elements fall into place gracefully. Permanently steeped in fog, Mundo Harsh can bleed together over its 40 minutes, but maybe that's by design. Either way, its dreamy perspective on techno hints at a strong future for the dance floor-driven Black Opal.
TracklistA1 Dardos
A2 Dioges
A3 Def Def
B1 Jaaz
B2 Sec2
B3 Vibrocalyx