- In his review of Unbroken Dub's last Rawax-released missive, RA's David Fowler commented on the surprise many felt upon learning that the producer wasn't a new alias for "one of dub techno's masters." Listening to the first track on the latest from the man born Denis Safiullin, "How Slow Can You Go," I'm a little surprised Unbroken Dub isn't Cottam's new techno guise: as syrupy as the title suggests, the track employs the very Cottam-like strategy of giving his machines plenty of breathing room, albeit with murky dub textures replacing scratchy samples.
By "Polywaxtest," Unbroken Dub has picked up the pace (albeit only to a trot), and this sort of groove—as clunky a jam as it is, its synths flanging and quantization thrown out the window—may be a better, more distinctive look. Faster still, "Closed Eyes" finds unlikely hooks in stuttering synths and a gloomy fog that lurks just below the surface, all over a subtly dexterous beat. "34 Ton," pared down to what sounds like one synth and a handful of drum sounds, comes off more like an etude than full-on track, but I sense Unbroken Dub is still experimenting with how to put all the pieces together. Like B-Tracks on their breakout "Specialize" from earlier this fall, Unbroken Dub seems to have internalized much of what's happening in house right now, and he's just getting started on carving out his own niche within it.
Tracklist A1 How Slow Can You Go
A2 Poly Wax Test
B1 Closed Eyes
B2 34 Ton