- This is the third in Detroit label Black Catalogue's occasional Modern Underground Music series of compilation EPs. This edition features solely Motor City-based artists, and it's "Try (Cry Baby)" from Rush Hour alumni The Oliverwho Factory that's the most instantly arresting. A no-nonsense house banger, it cranks up slowly through an intoxicating mix of tumbling kicks, a croaking acid bassline and diva-ish vocals, before finally hitting top gear with a hands-in-the-air-at-sunrise synth line.
The other cuts are more slow burning. The synth chirrups and echoing vocals of Mandingo's "Another Night On Earth" create a spacey aesthetic. Crunching bass and crisp drums complete a moody brew. Nightwalk's "Night Walk" faces defiantly away from the floor. Its smoky wisps of synth, slow-mo drums and glowing pads have a pleasing, early-Warp feel, but the track runs out of ideas well before it ends. "Expand" by Oktored closes in experimental fashion, with freeform keys and thudding bass rubbing up against a wall of pads and female vocal snippets. It's an interesting but not overly essential end to an EP whose A-side comfortably outshines its flip.
TracklistA1 Mandingo - Another Night On Earth
A2 The Oliverwho Factory - Try (Cry Baby)
B1 Nightwalk - Night Walk
B2 Oktored - Expand