- Heads up: "Cylinder Avoidance Test" ends in a locked groove. I can't say how long I spent in the thick of its machine zaps and pitter-patter percussion before realizing this—I'd sunk as deep into the zone as I had in a long time, but I had to chuckle at the trick. CC Not's sleight of hand doesn't just demarcate a near-perfect techno loop—it also pokes fun at the seriousness of the pursuit. You could literally dance to it forever, and that's at once blissful, ridiculous and unnerving.
"DO YOU EVER SIT AND WONDER WHAT YOU'RE REALLY DOING?" reads the final line of the manifesto accompanying Geo Fi, the first release from the Berlin- and Vancouver-rooted three-piece and their label, Acting Press. (Their mission statement is "to provide listeners with an opportunity to locate and maintain a state of total and complete mental/spatial reassurance.") The record is indeed a deconstruction of dance music's conventions, crutches and pleasures. But it's a hell of a lot more fun than that sounds. Geo Fi is the smartest record of the year so far—and sure to be one of its most distinct pleasures.
"Wearing" is a dead zone—lows boom and highs squeak, but the frequencies between have been all but scooped out. So when brittle pads and a breakbeat fill the void, they amount to an epiphany. The producers do this across the A-side, teasing out barely-there tunes that could have been ripped from a damaged cassette. Though the music will sound fucked up on any system, the flaws draw us further into unconventional riches: the lysergic shimmer of bit-crushed percussion, the wails that could either be a Theremin or poorly sampled bird chirps.
Once you've alighted from "Cylinder Avoidance Test," you get an ambient reprieve. Though CC Not never scramble toward a conclusion, "Vtro V 2.0" is the only track that really takes its time. Oscillators gurgle and burst, but the track is mostly a smooth rise. Prototypically, dance tunes build up, break down and repeat. If I hadn't heard Geo Fi, it might not have occurred to me that an alternative could feel so refreshing.
TracklistA1 Wearing
A2 Attribution Link
A3 303 IMUX
B1 Cylinder Avoidance Test
B2 Vtro V 2.0