Trickski - After & Before EP

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  • Longtime Sonar Kollektiv signees Trickski, most recently spotted on Delusions of Grandeur, now turn up on the Suol label with two original tracks that wouldn't sound out of place on DoG, plus remixes from Chopstick & Johnjon and H.O.S.H. If slow-to-midtempo house is your thing, you're in luck: the average tempo here is around 113 BPM (and the median is only 110, for all you disco statisticians in the audience). One of the midtempo jams, "Point 0" is a dusky, metallic churn of filtered and reversed piano chords and crisp drum machines, sluggish and sprightly all at once. The first half pushes through reverb as though jogging underwater, and the second half opens up into sparklingly clear hi-hats and synth stabs; it makes good use of its eight minutes, with subtle drama enhanced by indistinct moans. I'm not sure about the processed speech in the breakdown—"Welcome to Point Zero, your personal defeat"—but its oddly ritualistic vibe does, at least, suit the mood. Even slower, "Pill Collins" is based on a lumbering loop of piano and bass, with skeletal drum machines and vocal snippets fleshing it out—just an exercise in looping and layering, really, but it works wonders, especially as it builds to a subtle climax of contrasting funk keys, the perfect contrast between grinding and glowing. Chopstick & Johnjon don't do much to the tempo of "Point 0," but their remix feels considerably more energetic, thanks to oily electric bass samples and a flash of tambourines; it's a great example of minimal intervention yielding a considerable difference. H.O.S.H., on the other hand, ratchets up the pace of "Pill Collins" to a comparatively speedy 120 or so, leaning into choppy vocal snippets and staccato chords to accentuate the acceleration while preserving the original's swelling sense of drama.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Point 0 A2 Pill Collins B1 Point 0 (Chopstick & Johnjon remix) B2 Pill Collins (H.O.S.H. remix)
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