- Six years after the first L.I.E.S. record, American producers continue to explore lo-fi house and techno. Exotic Dance Records is a young outpost for such explorations, and their latest signing is an enthusiastic pathfinder. The New York-based producer Brian Piñeyro makes foggy techno as DJ Wey and "deep reggaeton" as DJ Python. His latest alias offers something different again, and it might be his most exciting project yet. The text accompanying EDR004 hints at the mood ("everything's blue in this world"). The style is jungle of a sort, spaced out and slowed down to a hollow dirge. These are more static mood pieces than dynamic dance tracks, but the moods are captivating.
The track titles offer further clues as to Piñeyro's mindstate: "No Title Whatsoever (Blue Football Mix)" and "[Gone ( Mix)]" suggest meditations on nothingness. Each track's breakbeat syncopations are layered Black Secret Technology-style, though the tone isn't soulful but bleak, thanks to the gloomy pads roaming their surface. Elsewhere, the producer seems to long for intimacy. There's an ember of wistful warmth in the smouldering "(((IwantUtoholdmetight)))," whose breakbeats outline a calmer halftime thud. On "Someone's Home", boomy percussion calls to mind the blissful rave inversions of Shed or Ilian Tape. Like several of these tracks, it rolls along for a couple of minutes longer than necessary. The repetition fits the grim mood, but the record's best moment is the more concise "Djxana2," which holds bleak and redemptive sounds in perfect balance.
TracklistA1 No Title Whatsoever (Blue Football Mix)
A2 Djxana2
A3 (((IwantUtoholdmetight)))
B1 [Gone ( Mix)]
B2 Someone's Home