- As VC-118A, Samuel Van Dijk belongs to a venerable collection of Dutch artists pursuing a refined modern vision for electro. But compared to, say, the better-known Delta Funktionen, the world of VC-118A is particularly dark and strange, with tracks often so subtle as to be intimidating. It's worth making the effort to get acquainted, as this nicely sequenced six-tracker for Delta Funktionen's Radio Matrix label demonstrates.
VC-118A's productions have rarely sounded grottier than B76 Over Land: the beats are chunky and crumple on impact, the swooshes of synth FX clouded with noxious reverb. The title track thuds balefully along near to 120 BPM, cool minor-key melodies and a few string chords wafting slowly out of the murk. Weightier still is "Vapor," which whips itself up to a pungent climax. If anything, Van Dijk gets a little lost in the fog, sacrificing some of the delicacy that marks out his best tracks.
"Vex" blasts out the cobwebs, thanks partly to its elevated speed and partly to its melodies—some artful lead-lines and a terse midrange arp make it the EP's most accessible moment. From there Van Dijk strips things back. "Trigger" is more or less just drums, though it's the most disorientating drum track you'll hear in a while. Closer "DIN" is an electro loop as heard from inside a reverb chamber. Not much happens across its three-minute length, but in VC-118A's nocturnal world, small events take on spooky significance.
TracklistA1 Intro
A2 B76 Over Land
A3 Vex
B1 Vapor
B2 Trigger
B3 Din