Patrice Scott - Euphonium

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  • There is one adjective most commonly applied to Detroit producer Patrice Scott's music: deep. With releases dating back to 2006 and a DJ career spanning 30 years, not to mention his own label, Sistrum Recordings, Scott's made a slow and steady career out of atmospheric dance floor cuts. For a DJ influenced by Motor City giants like Electrifying Mojo and Ken Collier, his head-down, unflashy style puts him in closer company with Fred P than fellow Detroit housers like Terrence Parker or Moodymann. Ten years in, Scott's first LP, Euphonium, is quite literally unhurried—his is the sound of a patient and historically-minded producer with the confidence to carve out his own lane. Though the house album presents a difficult notion in a market dominated by EPs, it suits Scott well. His tracks, which have mostly come out on his own label, are quite subtle. Though he makes some concessions to the LP form with ambient opener "A Detroit State Of Mind" and the "Sync Deeper" interlude, the other material holds up with his strongest singles. Euphonium's first rhythm track, "Distr5th," casually shifts momentum from a simple four-note arpeggio to dwell on some sophisticated, Basic Channel-style stabs. On the record's title cut, Scott offers immersive, watery dub techno with enough rhythmic torque to keep the listener from getting lost in the haze. Still, there's a uniformity to Scott's tracks. The question is not if they're going to be deep, but exactly how far we'll plunge. Moments of genuine weirdness, such as the queasy synth and breakbeat on "The Dark Dance (E.T.A. Mix)," or the elegant, off-time bass pattern on "They Walk The Earth" are a welcome respite from a deluge of perfect synth washes. That said, the production prowess here is jaw-dropping, both from a programming and compositional perspective. "Hysteria" builds a catchy, psychedelic house track over an alien synth progression. Five minutes into the same track comes a snare pattern that swings loose like a jazz drummer. Scott's disregard of samples in favor of synth wizardry link him with his close friend Keith Worthy and, to some extent, Omar-S, but he's otherwise forging his own path in a city that's known for the soulful beatdown sound. We get the sense that's just fine with Scott. With Sistrum Recordings, he's worked with a variety of like-minded producers, such as XDB, Leonid and Specter, rather than focusing on fellow Detroiters. Scott identifies hugely with his city's musical legacy, but as Euphonium shows, he's unencumbered by its legacy and still able to drill down into his own unique sound.
  • Tracklist
      01. A Detroit State Of Mind 02. Distr5th 03. Escapism 04. Hysteria 05. Euphonium (E.T.A. Dub) 06. They Walk The Earth 07. The Dark Dance (E.T.A. Mix) 08. Sync Deeper 09. Music Therapy Pt. 2
RA