- The art of the crescendo. It's the reason many of us love dance music, and what all dance music has as its common language—that pulsating climbing ascension that reels you in, and the grin-on-face satisfaction when it drops. "Hot Knives" constructs and destructs over the course of a few drawn-out peaks such as this, growing from a devilish dub-tech jig into sizzling synth swells into fully-fledged techno dirt you could mosh to. Even in its finer details; the repeated two-bar phrase is one long rising bass drone that hints at its overwhelming sense of progression.
With their early roots planted in the Black Market club events of Glasgow, the veteran pair of Slam have long since figured out what the clubber knows and wants—their productions boast this same mastery of pleasure whilst pushing things forward. Still, the irony here is on an A-track that so hyperbolises the elements of dance music, it feels less like a "dance" tune than Slam's other productions that are often higher in tempo and with more swing and/or melody. Instead, "Hot Knives" seems more like a brave work of art in which the listener should revel as it rides aggressive peaks and troughs.
B-side "What's on Your Mind" has a cushy fit on this EP, sounding just different enough from its partner to not be bracketed as a remix. It possesses the same flanging tinny hi-hats and gothic echoes, but brings much of the bounce and swing absent on "Hot Knives" in its wonky arpeggiated melody. The two tracks culminate an EP that is something different from Slam, not their crowning achievement on the dance floor (there's a certain amount of "been there, done that"—"Staccato Rave," for instance), but as dark, haunting and hard-hitting as always.
Tracklist A Hot Knives
AA What's On You Mind