- Complex midtempo percussion tools with endless twists and turns.
- Jdbotbalance arranges percussion like someone who can't sit still for long. On each track from their excellent 2022 EP, High Exposure, they zig-zagged between subplots—dubby techno advancing into drum workouts, relaxed beats consumed by hard techno. No matter the intensity, quick-footed percussion and penetrating low-end are Jdotbalance's trademarks. Their most recent release, Sublimate b/w Precipitate for ESP Institute, slows down to the label's drowsier pace, but there are still rhythmic curveballs and slippery melodies emerging from the record's complex murk.
On "Sublimate," tunneling pads threaten to subsume the heavily delayed drums. At the midpoint, sounds buzz by like a train rushing in reverse before retreating into silence. What emerges next is, for a moment, even sparser. Synths that sound like bursting bubbles climb up the scale as drums bounce underneath and the atmosphere thickens once again. On the flipside, "Precipitate" accomplishes something admirable: maintaining the record's relaxed pulse while picking up the intensity. Rubber band percussion springs across twirling pads, driving forward as if it were trailing a drag race. Suddenly the lights go out, and muffled drums heave. It all builds up to a full-blown drum workout.
Tracklist01. Sublimate
02. Precipitate