- "Don't send us any of that haircut techno shit" reads the "About Us" section on the Off Key Industries website, perhaps explaining why the label has only had three releases in the two years since it started. Still, if the releases are good, who cares? Bringing the bald as a stone techno shit on every Off Key release to date is Matt O'Brien, sometime cohort of Radio Slave. This time around he comes with three tracks and a DJ tool, all with a distinctly heads down feel.
'On The Brink' is first up, and probably the biggest record on this EP. The synths have traces of dub techno as a jerky rhythm and interminably long sirens build to a sort of climax. This is deep and serious techno music, sure to find favour with the likes of Ben Klock, and after hearing this it's no surprise to see tracks on Marcel Dettmann's record label in Matt O'Brien's chart at the Off Key Industries website. Next up comes a beatless mix of 'On The Brink', which is basically the siren buildup from the original, for what it's worth. Then comes the slightly deeper 'No Reason', which with its reverbed piano keys and airy synths is quite like something Lawrence or Efdemin might do on Dial. It's a fine track and although it isn't a peaktime record like 'On The Brink', it's certainly no useless b-side.
The final track on the EP is 'Elixir', which sounds like some lost early nineties house record, with deep strings washing through a slightly off kilter beat. It's perhaps a little too retro but it doesn't ruin what is another distinctive EP from Matt O'Brien, one that's well worth checking out.
TracklistA1 On The Brink
A2 On The Brink (Beatless Mix)
B1 No Reason
B2 Elixir