- Two unique producers join together in an intriguing mind meld.
- Bruce and Bambounou are key figures in a broad and difficult to define field of producers who make a mutant strain of techno. They might not look out of place on a lineup together, but their approaches are wildly different. From his early releases on 50Weapons to more recent efforts on labels like AD93 and Disk (and his own new imprint Bambe), Bambounou has typically used minimalistic arrangements and complex, repetitive cross-rhythms to hold a dance floor's focus. Bruce's techno, on the other hand, is agile, detailed and shapeshifting, often resisting the urge to ground itself in mesmerising loops in the way that Bambounou does so well.
On "Crash," these contrasting approaches melt together. The broken beat has the austere and anxious rolling percussive sound of a Perlon release, picking up seamlessly from where Bambounou's previous release on Bambe, Cascade, left off. The icy, three-dimensional details throughout—and the breakdown, which sounds like overhearing an alien abduction—is signature Bruce. "Final Conference" is a highlight, and it takes a similar approach: lean, cross-rhythmic, but this time the result is dubby and slyly psychedelic, as opposed to "Crash"'s impressive, cold weirdness.
"Rai" does something very different. Rhythmically straightforward, driving and with a catchy hook, it might be the most genuinely feel-good moment either producer has ever delivered, made even more satisfying by more intricately designed fakeout trickery at the breakdown. If "Crash" and "Final Conference" sound like two producers meeting in the middle, on "Rai," two styles collide to make something quite unlike either.
Tracklist01. Crash
02. Rai
03. Final Conference