- Moon B first came to wide attention last year with his self-titled debut LP, released as part of PPU's Test Pressings series. Wes Gray's sound, born of his collection of antiquated synths and beat boxes, felt both contemporary and instantly appealing, a perfectly dreamy soup of analogue boogie and lo-fi house poised somewhere between Dam-Funk and Mutant Beat Dance. Part of what was so strong about it was the producer's ear for woozy melodies and velvety pads; with the Entropic Feelings EP, released on the fledgling Going Good label, Gray proves that he can go (slightly) harder too.
This is, essentially, a house record. Across six untitled tracks the tempos are jacked up a tad and detailed lattices of percussion become the main focus. As with sectors of the L.I.E.S. camp, Gray deploys a decidedly retro-leaning sound palette to mildly devious ends, deftly avoiding cliché even if the rough edges and layers of tape hiss wouldn't sound out of place on a vintage Burrell Brothers production. If there's a binding agent to these tracks it's the sci-fi synths, either hovering frostily in the mid-range or burbling menacingly below; it's a feature that ought to be forbidding but actually brings a certain seedy quality to proceedings.
Tracks one and five are both drenched in reverb, as if played in an unfurnished basement—an effect that gives them a claustrophobic intensity—while track three is similarly energetic, its chunky, rough-edged drums slathered with bongos and soupy chords. Tracks two and six are crisper and more reserved. The former is particularly lovely, with its soft toms and trilling digi-flute. Track four is the only weak link, a danker number whose clotted synth-work doesn't quite hold the attention.
Tracklist A1 Untitled
A2 Untitled
A3 Untitled
B1 Untitled
B2 Untitled
B3 Untitled