Deep Space Orchestra - Red October

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  • With a name like Deep Space Orchestra, you could be forgiven for thinking you might get something like Space Dimension Controller from this UK duo, and in fact you do: they've got the squelchy 303s and gleaming Junos, the lilting rhythms carved from analog machines and carefully cut breaks, the same yen for pitch bend and ballooning filters. None of this gets in the way of the record's own considerable charms or accomplishments. "Dodge City" breaks with deep analog fealty by basing itself around a jittery percussive sample—a kind of trembling knot of vibraphones—that might be out of place in resolutely machine-oriented house, but which lends a nice, woody counterpoint to the track's more electronic textures. They trot out a range of chords and riffs that keep things floating on air, with a dubbed-out snare break to add toughness—it's dreamy, but with teeth. The bassline, meanwhile, might move like disco, but it's got the buzzing heft of drum & bass. "Red October" is tougher, with slowly pumping dominant chords and staccato congas; the hi-hats run so hot that it might take you a while to pick out the clipped 909 snares jabbing their fists through the mix. There's a strange, rattling remnant in the track's breakbeat foundation that can be distracting, with a collision of frequencies that sets your teeth on edge, but I think that's the point. Despite soothing chords and the blissed-out bent to the lead, there's a nervous churn in the mid-frequency arpeggios that doesn't let up until the very end, when it all strips down to rubbery bass and jabbing hi-hats and snares, a tip of the hat to acid house's stripped-down insistence.
  • Tracklist
      A Red October B Dodge City
RA