- Keith Worthy's "Emotional Content" was the first track on the first release of his Aesthetic Audio imprint and it's two words that have guided the label ever since. Over the course of its initial five releases, the prevailing theme has been affecting melodies mixed with deep beats, hearkening back to an era when Detroit techno was just beginning to find the soul in the machine.
The label's sixth—its first from Englishman Tony Lionni—is no different. Lionni has had a strong 2008, with releases on Versatile, Mule Electronic and Figure, but this two-tracker is firmly in line with Aesthetic Audio's sound. "Free Your Mind" pulsates its way through its eight minutes, gradually unspooling various melodic threads, moving them up-and-down in the mix like chess pieces. "5th Cycle" might be even better, a perfect storm of soft revolving lasers, a deep kick and a repeated vocal stab that floats away into the ether.
It's hard to describe the tracks here without falling back onto terms like "classic," "quintessential" or "vintage." Lionni isn't concerned with the new. Instead, like the rest of Aesthetic's output, these are tracks built to stand the test of time. They are defiantly backwards-looking, fully-formed compositions that sound like they had existed previously and merely had to be uncovered—rather than produced in a studio through hard work. But whether Lionni spent five minutes or five years on this is hardly the point, as the result is the same: Another winner from Aesthetic.
TracklistA Free Your Mind
B 5th Cycle