- Between an exclusive track for Marcel Dettmann's Berghain disc and a remix of Peter Van Hoesen's "Casual Care," Samuli Kemppi secured an enviable position in the techno landscape of 2008—sitting well with the brawny, stripped-down style associated with guys like Dettmann, but also fitting neatly with the more hypnotic and fluid stuff that's on the rise.
Just one of three new Kemppi EPs arriving this autumn, Komisch's Deep Space Helsinki is an excellent showcase for his effortless blend of tense basement rhythms and strange, vaguely out-of-sync sci-fi textures. "Orbiter" keeps a clockwork rhythm with a massive kick drum and some metallic, pitched-up percussion, yet time seems to turn elastic, the wobbly, irregular drones giving the track an almost queasy vertigo sensation. The effect is similar on "Metal Space," with intermittent, seemingly alien bursts casting the bright "morse code" percussion into zero gravity, the track seemingly describing a drift into the lightless void of, sure, "deep space."
Tapped for the remix is a producer whose tracks rarely let your thoughts stray from the rhythm. Sharing Kemppi's enthusiasm for thunderous kick drums and blinking, busy high ends, Tresor's Mike Dehnert retrofits "Metal Space" with his signature dotted-line template, high plinks and blips swarming around a stern, dubby bass drum, and all of it caught in a heavy lather of deep staccato chords. If you found yourself easing into a trance during Kemppi's pair, this is definitely a splash of cold water to the face. But, if you're more inclined to drift on, Kemppi's No One Can Hear Your Echo in Space, out this month on Prologue, will see to your needs.
TracklistA1 Orbiter
A2 Metal Space
B Metal Space (Mike Dehnert Remix)