- As Eagles & Butterflies, Chris Barratt makes emotional club tracks that provide DJs like Solomun and Dixon with melodies and breakdowns big enough to entertain the masses. The target audience for Saqqara, his first release under a new alias, Barratt, is slightly different. Think artists like DJ Tennis who favour big-room music with more depth and less pyrotechnics (Tennis, as it happens, appears on one of the five tracks). The Life And Death boss, whose label put out the EP, lends a hand on "Time Bending," a buttery bomb with an Italo-inspired synth line that's easily Saqqara's catchiest tune.
Barratt experiments with various moods and energies across the rest of the record, with mixed results. The title cut, currently the most played track on Resident Advisor, has the least interesting melody, though its patient churn, frenzied crescendos and white noise drops make it a surefire festival hit. "Khaos" is also built for mega dance floors, pairing jumpy technoid synths to resonant kicks. On "1983" Barratt changes tack to Todd Terje-style disco house, all sunset arpeggios and snake-charmer melodies. He nails it, stacking the EP with another summer smash. "Collider" goes for something similar but falls short. Its woozy sonics and chugging groove are too jarring to love.
TracklistA1 Saqqara
A2 Time Bending feat. DJ Tennis
B1 Khaos
B2 1983
Digital: Collider