- It's not always easy to parse electronic collaborations. If Dylan and Cash sing a duet, you can pretty much tell who's doing what: the nasal whine is Bob and the earthy baritone is Johnny. If, on the other hand, it's two guys on computers, and both of them, like Butane and Andras Toth, lean towards spacey, digital percolations of sound, then your guess is as good as mine. In the case of their Futures EP, the stylings of the Alphahouse label boss and his Hungarian progeny are compatible enough to give their combined efforts a fluid, organic vibe.
The A-side's a solid Crosstown jacker, no surprise considering the foot Butane's got well-planted in the Lazarus camp as of late. The sonic explorations Toth opened up on his debut release for Alphahouse last year get cinched up into something more direct and palatable—sometimes it doesn't hurt to have your label boss on hand, or at least someone with mass appeal in mind. A shifting tide of crackling percussion, dry like a snake rattle, plays over peppy dance-ready bass—radio ghosts surface in the endgame, transmitting across the ether. Save a synth burst in the last quarter and the track keeps a lid on things, a restraint perhaps indicative of Butane's minimal past.
The smart money says that the expressionist piano on the b-side comes from Toth, who has deployed the ivories to similar effect in his impressive live sets. The piano cuts two figures over a spare groove: one a rhythmic two-note pattern in the bass, the other a melodic cascade up and down a haunting minor scale. A 12-minute b-side seems to be the place where the two producers have enough room to unfurl their talents: with a tripped-out depth befitting the EP's gnomic song titles, the track's sustained, moody atmosphere and romantic heart steals the show from its A-side kin.
TracklistA The Disc Is Rippling with Possible Futures
B Time Forks Perpetually Towards Innumerable Futures