Herva - How To Mind Your Own

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  • Herva came to wider attention with last year's Instant Broadcast for Delsin, a diverse LP that made up in adventurousness what it sometimes lacked in focus. The album launched off from house and techno, but the Italian's wide-ranging sample choices led him into all kinds of intriguing nooks and crannies. This followup EP for Dublin's All City—a label that has found a new lease of life lately through wayward releases from Buz Ludzha and Anno Stamm—similarly follows its nose. Often, this takes Herva to places that only he would think to go. "She Is"'s clattering breakbeat is plagued by all kinds of ducks and rhythmic slips, and for every blast of aggy detuned synth there's a pensive Rhodes line waiting to rein in the intensity. "No Money No Honey" has a firmer grip on its junglist groove, but again, Herva cuts between two moods—thorny propulsion and sampladelic bliss—with disorientating glee. The EP's straighter moments remain deeply idiosyncratic. "Pressure Bumps"'s tumbledown house beat is intercut with blasts of interference, while the fidgety groove of "Dynamic Image Hits" romps at a breathless 144 BPM. "Anti Loudness War Manifesto (Tape 2)" feels like it's headed towards house too, but the nervous hi-hats never quite amount to anything. Herva's tendency to wander can be a weakness as well as a strength, and his unwillingness to dig into his ideas makes How To Mind Your Own more intriguing than truly engaging.
  • Tracklist
      A1 How To Mind Your Own A2 Pressure Bumps A3 She Is B1 Dynamic Image B2 No Money No Honey B3 Antiloudness War Manifesto (Tape 2)
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