- As an influence, Robert Hood looms large for Londoner Ashley Burchett. The pair share a distinctly less-is-more aesthetic. Like Hood, Burchett knows how to make a techno album that goes beyond mere floor-fodder: last year's Frames Of Reference, his debut, showed a light-fingered touch for manipulating tension through tiny tweaks. And while the album mixed its techno with dub and abstract moments, its second single is one its most minimal cuts. Both the original and Hood's remix create a big impact from a light load.
Only a handful of ingredients go into "Dirtro II," and there are never more than three of them in the mix at once. Burchett's skill is in the space that forms between a synth riff and a sub, or the imprint that riff leaves on the stabs that replace it. With so little to focus on, you end up half-hearing your own imagined harmonics as elements play against each other.
Hood's take is equally hypnotic, though for different reasons. His minimalism is about pushing loops until they almost buckle. From the first beat, Burchett's lead, which Hood beefs up and gives a Detroit shimmer, never relents. As white noise roils around them, kick and synth stay locked in step, each occasionally reined back only to suddenly unfurl in a crack of energy. As with the original, Hood finds euphoria in the sparest palette.
TracklistA Dirtro II
B Dirtro II (Robert Hood's New Device Mix)