- Mupa's sixth release sees Damián Schwartz add a jazzy edge to his usual digital techno sound. Lately it seems that minimal stalwarts must either adapt or die, and this EP shows it can be done without simply aping other producers.
Schwartz makes the shift quite simple, introducing harsh minimal sounds to the heat of house and giving birth to a compelling hybrid. Now obviously the idea that every so-called minimal record was sterile or cold is overstated, but EPs like this certainly make a grittier, more low slung mutation of the genre seem compelling. This grittiness is clear throughout the opener, ‘1568 Drexel AV’. It begins with a rolling bassline and a classic house drum pattern given a slight modern trim. Meanwhile the long discordant drones that unfurl eerily over the beat are decidedly cold and minimal. This fusion of organic and digital sounds, and of hot and cold, is stretched further with psychedelic bongo percussion that's been heavily treated. It all makes for an exciting record that's hard to classify.
Next up is ‘2020’, which is perhaps even better. It's not as busy as ‘1568...’ but it's a tighter and sharper cut as a result. Once again it's a case of old sounds meeting new. A jacking bassline, a chopped up horn riff, and druggy warbling sirens make this ‘Moving Like A Train's’ k'd up cousin. It would make the perfect bridge between harsh minimal or techno sounds and house music, and it shows Schwartz has real versatility.
Of course the obvious influence here seems to be Ricardo Villalobos, whose sounds seem to be filtering down the populist food chain for the last year or two. But if the results are like this, then who's complaining?
TracklistA 1568 Drexel AV
B 2020