- Randomer's third release for Clone Basement Series, Concierge, continues to explore the kind of stark, percussive punishment that made Angry Fiddle and Stupid Things I Do so explosive. But where those records at least flirted with synths and basslines, this one is staunchly atonal, dealing with an array of treated samples that offer surreal textures and anxious moods. You could liken "Concierge" and "Woodwork" to the two "Percussion Workout" tracks on Stupid Things I Do—Rohan Walder extrapolates their brash drum programming for a sound that's both detailed and simplistic, pulverizing and refined.
In our recent Machine Love interview with Walder, he said he'd taken on board Untold's advice some years ago to make his music "more stupid." "I think I found a way to bring the complexity into the simpler tracks that's cool for people on the floor but also satisfying for me," he explained, and Concierge is a fine example of his approach. Both tracks here keep to a 4/4 stomp, layering basic percussion elements over the top to stoke movement and serve as a hook—some hollow metallic tones in "Concierge," their wooden counterparts in "Woodwork." It's all compelling enough in a rhythmic and timbral way, but what Walder does beneath the "stupid" stuff really makes the music shine. Even if you don't notice, say, the nimble toms underpinning "Concierge," or the dismantled drum breaks in "Woodwork," they're precisely what makes each track so persuasive on the dance floor.
TracklistA Concierge
AA Woodwork