- Resonance Moscow is a new record label from Nikita Zabelin, a key figure among a young generation of Russian techno artists. Through his Resonance radio show, the трип-affiliated Zabelin unearths talent from across the country. According to Nina Kraviz, he introduced her to gifted new artists like Vladimir Dubyshkin and Roma Zuckerman. His label will likewise present Russian producers to the world, though it kicks off with a familiar artist. As Unbroken Dub, Tyumen's Denis Safiullin has been releasing dubby house and techno since 2011. Forty Six Knobs Machine is something slightly different: a sibling to 2014's below-the-radar Rockton Machine EP, which was made using an obscure Soviet drum synth, the Rokton. The machine's unusual soundbank inspires Safiullin's strangest, and frostiest, music to date.
Head straight to the back of the EP for the biggest revelation. "Factory Presets Improvisation" sounds exactly as if it were made on a machine nobody else has. The hi-hats are broken-glass clusters of hi-end synth tones, and the clap and kick are blunted and swathed in ghostly delay. A synth line leaves icy trails in the mid range, and the bassline is a muffled groan. Safiullin conjures foggy funk out of these austere materials. The track lopes along at 114 BPM, its initial taut energy slowly unspooling into the grubby snow.
The rest of the EP is more conventional, though it still has an alien flourish. "Lullaby Arp" is all about the titular arpeggio, a dull swirl tracing endless minor-key patterns over a dulled techno beat. "RX303" is a low-octane acid workout with a hint of redemptive organs in the breakdown. It would be formulaic if not for those drum sounds: the snare thin and woody, the kick drum a soft, heavy thwomp, and that trademark broken-glass hi-hat, a sound smuggled in from a distant universe.
TracklistA1 Lullaby Arp
B1 RX303
B2 Factory Presets Improvisation