- The Hoover Dam, the Bay Bridge, the Panama Canal—Morgan Geist's Megaprojects series counts massive public infrastructure projects as inspiration. He looks to the Manic-5 dam in Quebec and the now-demolished Orange County Government Center in Upstate New York on its latest EP, conjuring feelings of governmental "can-do" spirit and mid-century patriotism that now feel quaint.
Geist's idea on Megaprojects is to make "low-tech tracks" with rudimentary synths and drum machines and elevate them into "megaprojects" with his mixdowns. By stepping back to the mindset of his early solo releases, Geist playfully answers an age-old question: what if I knew then what I know now? "Manic Cinq," named after the dam, succeeds with this directive, as much a tutorial for young producers as it is a catchy, disco-inflected house cut. It starts with a skeletal arpeggiated synth and pads that could score a group of engineers looking over some blueprints, after which snares, hats and minimal leads billow into the mix as small building blocks that eventually amount to a towering structure.
The next couple tunes, "Fuzzy Detail" and "Buy Freedom," fail to reach these satisfying heights. The former is a low-slung, sub-110-BPM head-nodder that never quite lifts off, while the latter deals in humdrum '90s rave nostalgia, albeit with fine detail and a spacious mixdown. To close things out, "OCGC" honors the building that inspired it with a mind-bending lead synth line over a Metro Area-style bassline.
TracklistA1 Manic Cinq
A2 Fuzzy Detail
B1 Buy Freedom
B2 OCGC