Spaces - Two

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  • When John Flynn's One EP dropped last year, he was an unknown producer signed to Bleep, the eponymous label of Warp’s online music store. A year later, he's a noted Björk collaborator with more buzz behind him. The Icelandic artist used Flynn's "Apologies" as the basis for "Quicksand," the gorgeous closing track from this year’s Vulnicura album, draping his flickering electronics with strings. On his Two EP, the producer digs further into his fussy and cerebral sound, where everything is so cut-up and glitchy that it can be hard to tell what’s-what. The effect can mystify one moment and frustrate at another. "Make The Switch" is Flynn's stab at techno, with a rigid 4/4 backbone squaring off against glitchy synth shards. The sounds are compressed and blocky, like they've been sent through a trash compactor, so the track feels a little dry even as it’s technically impressive. "Chase Back" is cheerier: the bumpy bassline rides a wild, psychedelic trajectory through swirling synths and what sounds like splintering guitar. But "Noon To" turns out the best, and mostly because it abandons any connection to the dance floor. Brutal and claustrophobic, the track’s weird noises are tied into a pretzel before unraveling halfway through.  If there's an artist that's loomed over Flynn's work so far it's Mark Fell, so his appearance as a remixer feels like self-fulfilling prophecy. He manages to make gold out of Flynn's bronze, turning "Make The Switch" into something that's stone-faced and jaunty in a much more intuitive way. The bassline is jumpy and the sounds are glitchy, but it moves with Fell’s odd fluidity.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Make The Switch A2 Chase Back B1 Noon To B2 Make The Switch (Mark Fell Remix)
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