- Are breaks and pads boring? Robbenspierre suggests there's life in them yet.
- I'd like to find out the working methods behind Threads, a label that seems intent on squeezing every last ounce of emotion from its producers. The first EP from Samo, two-thirds of the crew responsible for one of last year's biggest ass-shakers, was horizon-scanning electro in the mold of E.R.P. Drop the needle at any point on matteo's THREADS002 and keep the Kleenex nearby. You didn't need to look past the song titles ("Afterrave," "Electric Saga") to know that this is dance music written in the key of sad.
The new EP from the Turin youngster Robbenspierre builds upon this blueprint. "Bedroom Euphoria" sounds like something Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst might have written had he popped an E at a Drop Bass party and bought a 909. The sound design is vivid, with swirled vortexes of light and ascending synths. This song may be the emotional apex of the record, but the other tracks are still designed to slide into our emotional DMs.
Both "Bens," an electro burner with an arpeggiated aquatic synth panning across the stereo field, and "Try To Live Through This Night," featuring a bassline meaty enough to BBQ, are filtered through choral pads, which add a pensive quality. Then there is "Shake You Out." Skee Mask recently tweeted that the "breakbeat + pad sound is THE key these days to start releasing a boring record." Robbenspierre begs to differ. The track isn't much more than pads and a breakbeat but it bangs, finding that sweet spot where melancholy turns to euphoria.
TracklistA1 Try To Live Through This Night
A2 Shake You Out
B1 Bens
B2 Bedroom Euphoria