- Steve Reich's 13-minute phasing experiment "Come Out" surfaces fitfully in music. I first heard samples of the 1966 piece on Madlib's Shades Of Blue, and then again on his MF DOOM collaboration, Madvillainy. U.N.K.L.E. and D*Note, among many others, have also made use of the famous line: "Come out to show them." A response to a murder during the '64 Harlem Riots, "Come Out" endures as a sonic artifact full of political undertones. Used on "Show Them," the B-side of Forest Drive West's debut 12-inch for dnuoS ytiviL, Daniel Hamm's voice is more like a reminder of the debt techno owes Reich's rigorous work with repetition.
The crossover seems more than incidental. Buoyant and fluid, the London-based producer's rolling techno seems to occupy a fixed space even as it mutates, echoing the way Hamm's looped words diffuse like gas. Bell tones, soft pads and analogue hums fill out System / Show Them, but the effects serve to decorate, rather than disturb, the rhythm. The tracks are also remarkable for how soft their textures are. Sounding like several gamelan ensembles fed through a shredder, "System"'s ambient core should sound ugly and nauseating. Instead, it enhances the sense of drift. On the more dance-friendly "Show Them," brushed snares unexpectedly take a pivotal role, leavening the sub-bass tremors and amplifying the rhythm of the "Come Out" sample.
TracklistA System
B Show Them