- "When you roll in, you can expect to be immersed into a world with one purpose: to make you lose your fucking mind." This is how the Los Angeles producer Jasen Loveland described the No Way Back parties, which he credits with helping shape his sound. In return, the Detroit crew featured Loveland in their anniversary Acid Series—last year's Vol 1 was his debut release. This follow-up, for the label arm of LA's Acid Camp party, is no less faithful to rebooted acid techno. If anything it's even tougher, subscribing to the No Way Back ethos that acid isn't about the means (though there's plenty of 303 here) so much as the ends: hallucinatory liftoff.
Loveland is said to be a "doctor of medicine" by day, and the label quips that his prescriptions "may not be suitable for all patients inquiring." You can see why on "My Medicine," a surgically redlined drum track with a yammering synth lead. It's both a steady groover and terrifyingly intense, combining pummelling rhythm and mid-range swirl to send the body and mind spinning in different directions. "Epoxy (Space Mix)" is a deeper trip, its one-note 303 line a trance-inducing didgeridoo chuntering in the foreground while spooky chords drift by. "Paranoid Fantasy (Unlimited Mix)" splits the difference between the two—it has both paranoid intrigue and jet-engine propulsion—while a remix of "Epoxy" from No Way Back's Patrick Russell offers a bit of a breather. Which isn't to say that it goes easier on the acid—it's just Loveland's trippy medicine is administered in slightly more humane doses.
TracklistA1 My Medicine
A2 Epoxy (Space Mix)
B1 Paranoid Fantasy (Unlimited Mix)
B2 Epoxy (Patrick Russell Remix)