Various - Speicher 76

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  • The Speicher series began as an outlet for any musical odds and sods hanging around the Kompakt offices. That an ill-defined sub-label has chalked up 76 releases in the ensuing decade is testament to the calibre of the artists attracted to its 20-year-old parent label. The series' 30s and 40s were buy-on-sight—the Speicher stamp a guarantee of either an anthemic floor-filler or an intriguing audio experiment—but the lustre has arguably faded of late, and recent offerings from Nick Höppner and Rainer Weichhold have been functional but uninspiring. Speicher 76, though, is a return to the good old days. On "Enough Lead To Make It Heavy," recorded as Naum Gabo, JG Wilkes, a Speicher veteran, fashions something akin to being trapped in the bowels of an ocean tanker, as synths jitter and twitch metallically above the groans of a distant engine. It's late-night techno for floors where eye contact isn't encouraged. Chymera's "Under The Slip" is similarly abrasive at first, its opening five minutes unfurling in a cacophony of snares and shrieking synths. Then, after an incessant build, appears a bassline of pure sweat-in-the-eyes pleasure, an exercise in funky simplicity that would make Superpitcher proud. This is vintage Speicher—borderline demented, but a barrel-load of fun.
  • Tracklist
      A Chymera - Under The Slip B Naum Gabo - Enough Lead To Make It Heavy
RA