- Retro, party-rocking jams.
- Cardopusher is a producer who could probably make fun dance music in any style. His music sounds freewheeling even when it's murky, which is the case on Muscle Memory, his first EP for Dark Entries. Playing with acid, electro and new beat, its six tracks explores the various strands of music Dark Entries usually reissues, each tune a finely styled exercise in all things brooding and banging.
The music on Muscle Memory sounds ambiguously retro, like Photonz's recent Dark Entries EP, Etheric Body Music. The textures are smudged and the edges worn. This works most of the time, like on the acid workout "Into The Motion," which is stronger for its raw, stiff kick drum and harsh squelches. This contrasts with "Regress To Nowhere," which feels smooth and by-the-numbers.
"Sewer Escape" is a bottom-heavy crawl through sleazy new beat, while "Muscle Memory" features thwacking EBM kicks. Both are satisfyingly chunky, but the best track is "Leaving," a slice of outsized electro that uses a vintage vocal processing effect—think Drexciya's "Wavejumper"—that should make any Detroit electro fan's ears tingle. Then there's "Nambu Line Dub," a house number as average as "Regress To Nowhere." Remove these tracks and you're left with what Cardopusher does best: retro, party-rocking jams.
TracklistA1 Regress To Nowhere
A2 Into The Motion
A3 Sewer Escape
B1 Muscle Memory
B2 Leaving feat. Ivy Barkakati
B3 Nambu Line Dub