- If you're the kind of producer who likes your techno served with plips, plops, splodges and splutters, life sure ain't as easy as it used to be. The dark minimal sound championed by Minus, Vakant, Dumb Unit et al. has taken a fair old beating of late, eschewed in favour of, on the one hand, Eurocentric "deep" house, and on the other, a reversion to the gritty, stripped-back textures of the mid-'90s.
But there are still good plips, plops, splodges and splutters to be heard out there in the world of anal-retentive techno. Take this EP, for instance, Rico Casazza's second for Slant and a perfectly enjoyable slice of gastrointestinal club music. Opener "Waving, Surviving" takes the slow and sleazy approach, pitching flatulent bass against soft pads, open-road guitars and gently rippling wind chimes, while B-side "Skinless" goes for the jugular with jacking beats, boisterous shanty-town percussion and a healthy array of (you guessed it) plips, plops, splodges and splutters. Both tracks—although nothing new—are dense, carefully assembled and witty enough to reward repeat listening.
Respective remixes do their best to streamline Casazza's loose aesthetics. Bryan Zentz's take on "Waving, Surviving" is deep, clean and punchy—a safe bet for early morning 'floors, if a little on the plodding side. Let's Go Outside's contribution, on the other hand, is throttling, taking "Skinless" by the scruff of its neck and injecting it with real forward momentum thanks to throbbing bass and rampant squalls of synth. It's the best track on the EP, and sounds like just the kind of thing minimal's tiring cronies would be making if only they could still be bothered.
TracklistA1 Waving, Surviving
A2 Waving, Surviving (Bryan Zentz Murky Waters remix)
B1 Skinless
B2 Skinless (Let's Go Outside Remix)