- Peder Mannerfelt's releases have often had a clinical feel, as if the Swede were conducting enquiries into what happens when synthetic sounds are placed under a certain pressure, or processed in particular ways. The results can veer close to techno, but Mannerfelt's rather academic process has rarely dovetailed so neatly with the dance floor as it does on this EP for Glasgow's Ultimate Hits. What's immediately striking about Variation is how playful it sounds (this, after all, is a member of ultra-stern synth duo Roll The Dice). Opener "Variations Of Love" sounds like a sweaty Chicago house jam rendered with the laser precision of modern computer music, its angular synth loops and rimshots strobing unevenly against a 4/4 pulse. "Ta-Ta Tommy Time" is a conga workout for sweaty basements; the airless groove periodically bottlenecks with ugly spews of delay.
In typical Mannerfelt fashion, the EP's remainder drifts steadily off piste. "Set It Off"'s techno beat is riven by earsplitting claps and vicious mentasm smears. It makes up in sheer obnoxiousness what it loses in dance floor momentum. "STROBB" is weirder still, its drum hits and tight synth squeals hanging crookedly together against an empty backdrop. Mannerfelt was never likely to linger in the discotheque for long, but this brief foray yields excellent results.
TracklistA1 Variations of Love
A2 Ta-Ta Tommy Time
B1 Set It Off
B2 STROBB