- Soulful but silly electro from Driss Bennis on the legendary Metroplex label.
- Usually when you read "Detroit-indebted" or "Detroit-inspired" in a press release, it means a producer has added dreamy chords over 808s for their best Neptune's Lair impersonation. This is where Driss Bennis and his Casa Voyager crew have set themselves apart. For the past six years, the Moroccan label has reimagined Detroit electro—in both its DJ Assault and The Other People Place variants—as afterhours fare for the new minimal scene. On the latest EP under his OCB alias, The Sequel, Bennis perfects this blend of booty shaking funk and wistful daydreaming.
Both "Thx (The Sequel)" and "Syntax Error" capture Bennis's irreverent style of homage to the Motor City. The opening strings on the former might be a little too on the nose, but a slinky groove emerges with a squidgy '80s bassline and a darting arpeggio—the same sort of interplay of sad boi broodiness and Miami Vice-style sleaze that the likes of Liquid Earth and Sweely are pushing. Bennis inverts this formula on "Syntax Error." An electrified synthline hotwires the 808s while Bennis goes to town on vocoder samples, like an Aux 88 trunk shaker. The rest of the EP wanders further afield, but still juxtaposes the introspective with the funky. The last minute or so of "Global Warning" has an electro beat, but it's actually a steamy IDM track with bird call samples and piano lines beamed in from the Casablanca shoreline. He goes techno on "Translate," but the wobbly melodies bickering with the snares are more Daniel Bell at 6 AM than peak-time Floorplan.
That Juan Atkins's legendary Metroplex is releasing The Sequel is no small feat. Bennis is treading on the sacred ground of Model 500 and entering himself not just in the contemporary canon but the historical DNA of Detroit dance music. This has been a long time coming for Bennis. When he spoke to Resident Advisor for a feature back in 2019, he was clear that while imitation may be the best form of flattery, it doesn't lead to innovation. Dennis wanted to think about an actual "cultural exchange" with the city. This has led to his ongoing relationship with Julian Shamou, AKA Detroit's Filthiest, but has also meant he's truly experimented with classic sounds and templates, imagining them as his own instead of just making facsimiles. The Sequel is the culmination of that effort, a sign that even the originators recognize Bennis as a fellow innovator.
Tracklist01. Thx (The Sequel)
02. Global Warning
03. Syntax Error
04. Translate
05. But In Time