- Now you know you're getting old when the first thing you think about when you see the title of a techno track is wine. Cloudy Bay is a rather fine Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and I wouldn''t mind a bottle of it right now, unfortunately it's a tad expensive so I can''t drink it too often.
Martin Buttrich strikes me as probably being a wine drinker. His tracks are so obsessively detailed and finessed that it seems impossible that he'd sit around swilling gallons of beer. And indeed he's earned himself a nice glass or two having produced two of 2007's biggest anthems in 'Full Clip' and 'Seeing Through Shadows' (with Loco Dice).
Despite being on Poker Flat, this is another classy effort. 'Cloudy Bay' is lush and panoramic, and sounds like it should be heard on a mountaintop in Kashmir. There are rousing strings and virtuoso breakdowns, and much like 'Full Clip’, it''s all constructed around a deceptively simple core riff that Buttrich endlessly plays with. The rhythm is lurching and slightly off-kilter but the overall impression is of straight techno done gloriously well, making it very adaptable. Much as the wine goes well with a light salad, with maybe a touch of fennel, mixing 'Cloudy Bay' into something sophisticated and slightly clicky will bring out its best features, but it could equally well fit in with anthemic progressive without being out of place.
On the B-side 'What''s Your Name' is another nice deep Buttrich tune, although not as impressive as the title track. Also on the B-side is evidence that the man is actually human and sometimes makes mistakes – ''Lazy Bastard'' is a fairly average percussive effort which never quite gels, although I do have to report that it still has some lovely moments.
Lets hope the absurdly talented Mr. Buttrich gives us more of the same in 2007.
TracklistA Cloudy Bay
B1 What''s Your Name?
B2 Lazy Bastard