- Old-school tools for new-school clubs.
- Elisa Bee started her recent RA Podcast with the track "Birth Of A Disco Dancer" by Reload, a forgotten alias of the legendary Mark Pritchard. Although it first came out in '92, it still feels fresh—the drums are raw, but the drawn-out minor key chords, both soulful and menacing, sound like the best techno being made now. In fact, it's this balance between the old and the new that makes Bee's productions shine. Whether she's turning out hardgroove for Ben Sims or psychedelic acid for Truncate, there's a studied sense of dance music history alongside what works in today's best clubs. On her latest EP, Fluid Funk, Bee nods to old-school Chicago jack and UK rave on four hard-hitting, chrome-plated cuts of contemporary techno.
The first two tracks on Fluid Funk are a bit housier than Bee's recent releases. Although she broke through with an EP that had some slamming house bangers, her productions have become increasingly techno-centric. But the title track on Fluid Funk shows that she's just as comfortable writing homages to the Windy City as the Motor City. It's like a Jammin Gerald track with the polished snares and hi-hats of modern techno. "Yes Yes" keeps the funk alive with vintage rave stabs accented by pounding kicks and little coils of acid, EQ'ed to give the stereo field an intentional shallowness. By the end it feels almost painful (in a good, delayed gratification kind of way) that she hasn't dropped the bass.
The other two tracks play it a bit safer. There's a hardcore intensity to the drums on "Pins And Needles," while "Forever Seeking" is a hardgroove number with the EP's most intricate melody: a duet between ascending stabs and a tribal-ish synth that sounds like it's being plucked from inside a tin drum. What holds the record together is the fact that Fluid Funk is understated, but effective. Like the best '90s producers, Bee understands that dance tracks are supposed to be just that: tracks that make you dance.
Tracklist01. Fluid Funk
02. Yes Yes
03. Pins And Needles
04. Forever Seeking