- It's hard to know what to expect when coming to a Glimpse release. Chris Spero is just as comfortable throwing up proggy bangers ('Caught On Train'), a spot of deepness ('Pushing Claude') or even Kompakt Pop-baiters ('Rocket Love'). That's, of course, a good thing and a bad thing. As someone who can travel between genres easily, Spero is an undoubted talented fellow. And, yet, because of this, you can't help but get the feeling that the guy doesn't spend enough time in each to get a real complete handle on anything before going off somewhere else to interlope some more.
On his latest, he goes "abstract": 'Elephant Skins' would fit on any mind-bending minimal compilation of recent vintage. The track is dubby, but not dub techno. It has strange distended horn samples, but doesn't get too out there. The drums sound like tribal warriors consigned to a simple, boring pattern. For all its "weird" (read: safely strange) signifiers, though, the track goes down like a charm. Spero's obviously an expert in production matters and, more importantly, knows how to balance a track's elements against one another. What could have been an exercise in the dull paint-by-numbers Villalobos, turns into something just as engrossing as his earlier work.
The Jay Haze remix is even better. The groove instantly picks up from the original and Haze turns the horns into staccato reminders of what they once were. Add in what sounds like a flamenco guitar (which seems to be all the rage at the moment) and you've got a satisfying tune.
On the B, Glimpse continues apace with the deepness. 'Find a Way' mines Cassy's production box, layering two separate vocal samples to hypnotic effect. In some ways, it almost sounds like a parody, but it hardly matters. The end result of Spero's building groove is one that elides any sort of criticism - quite simply, I'm dancing too much to complain.
If you're a digital fan, man of the moment Johnny D also produced a remix of 'For Fleur', which is something close to massive. A hard-driving piece of work, D slices a vocal tendril and layers it over top a slightly-tribal pattern that should serve to build any set towards a climax of epic proportions. Excellent.
TracklistA1 Elephant Skins
A2 Elephant Skins (Jay Haze Remix)
B1 Find a Way
(Digital) For Fleur (Johnny D Remix)