- Manchester label Natural Sciences marks its inaugural release with Low Definitions, the debut 12-inch from Netherlands newcomer Aleks. Together, the upstarts present a focused and enticing vision of rough hardware-centric dance music with a druggy slant. With charismatic touches like on-the-fly mixing and a complete disregard for peaking levels, Low Definitions outlines a producer whose well-honed abilities run the gamut from mystic acid-house to immersive techno without ever losing its collective coherence.
Aleks occupies a buoyant house zone on "Ulterior Motive" and "04RW," the first of which cobbles together 123 BPM acid from the leftovers of a blunted ambient session. "04RW" goes further down that smokey rabbit hole to find half-remembered smears of melody and layers of xeroxed drum patterns, and continues to dig deeper into obscurity after reaching the bottom. "Hemel" has its fair share of spectral pads and noisy touches, too, but it's all rendered beefy and uncluttered, likely to highlight all the deep details at work in its low frequencies. It's an impressive slab of restrained techno that, along with the sinewy "Ulterior Motive," stands out like a monolith because Aleks resists the urge to prioritize strangeness over clarity. All aquatic synths, sticky bass notes and stomping 4/4, "Multitudes" could've joined their ranks if not for the permeating noise. That distorted, blurry stuff can no doubt be engrossing, but Low Definitions shines brighter when the haze clears out.
TracklistA1 Ulterior Motive
A2 Hemel
B1 04RW
B2 Multitudes