- Nummer, the duo of Emmanuel Corre and Silvère Letellier, have thus far specialized in making dubby house tracks with Detroit inflections. (One record, the single-sided To The D, was a tribute to the Motor City.) Their output, for the most part, has been fairly straightforward. They play live sets and release 12-inches of modern dance tracks for DJs and dance floors. Second Sight, on the other hand, has lots of stylistic diversions. Over the course of the album, there are passages of lush, psychedelic ambience, breakbeat science and misshapen bangers.
Ambient tracks are to house and techno albums what skits are to rap albums: an overused method bridging one track to the next. For Corre and Letellier, traveling between the meatier material is half the fun. "Liège Trinité" begins with what sounds like Steve Reich jamming with Pink Floyd before it becomes frantic house. (The duo revisit that segment on "Liège Outro.") The second disc starts out with "Hypnose (Dub Mix)," a head-nodding downtempo track with tropical bird samples.
Corre and Letellier's tracks are often sleek and atmospheric, and Second Sight has those qualities in spades. The title track first emerged as a single-sided 12-inch last year, but the ten-minute cut is given new life here. It has a dark, techy foundation: crafty drums, trippy effects and a pumping, one-note bassline. Most producers would leave it at that, but Corre and Letellier eventually introduce Juno chords and an earworm lead into the mix before riding out the track on a subtly morphing breakbeat.
Nummer might be the most straight-ahead act on Going Good, though it's obvious the label has given them free reign to do whatever they want. Album highlight "L'Amour À L'Est" has a spacious slap bass section. "Boulangerie Des 90s" and "Last Ride" are ambient house tracks laden with breaks. Those are just a couple of the paths Corre and Letellier explore on Second Sight, an unpredictable tug of war between the duo's club instincts and their out-there tendencies.
Tracklist01. Liège Trinité
02. La Voix Du Nord
03. Liège Outro
04. Boulangerie Des 90s
05. Second Sight
06. Hypnose (Dub Mix)
07. Lazer Dance
08. L'Amour À L'Est
09. Last Ride
10. Hoise!
11. Endless Rivers