- Reboot isn't a producer who fills his tracks with happy hooks. That much was clear from the foreboding bass drones of his debut release on Cadenza. In fact, the only time light seemingly shines through his music is when he's remixing someone else. Still, his sound, if a little darker, shares the strict functionality that has seen his Frankfurt/Mannheim cohorts (Johnny D, Sascha Dive, etc.) dominate 2008.
That same skeletal darkness characterises his debut release on Motivbank. The opening track "Assign the Source" sounds like D's "Orbitalife" template after a botched housectomy. It's a sonic cage of resonating drums and wobbling percussion with thick gloopy bass. The heavily reverbed breakdowns are quintessentially minimal even if the rougher tribal bassline offers a new slant. Interestingly, "tribal" is probably the key word here. Lots of more house-orientated minimal is begging for the rejuvenation of the term, but releases like this suggest the old meaning might still have (fat, lumpen) legs.
Of course there's nothing definitively wrong with any genre, and rehabilitation is always possible, but the relentless thump of "We Funk" doesn't make you long for more tribal house tributes. The bludgeoning beat seems to epitomise the sound of wanting to leave a club, and it's dragged out with barely a change over eight-and-a-half minutes, even evoking older producers like Superchumbo.
If 2008 is the year of the DJ tool, then the pressure is on producers to refine their loops perfectly. If they aren't the listener is left with bar after bar of a few sounds that weren't even enjoyable the first time around. While "Assign the Source" isn't bad, Reboot has proven he can do better than this curiously dated release.
Tracklist A Assign the Source
B We Funk