- Deliberate scarcity is an excitant—if it's in your line of vision, it makes you crave more. Following on from the sure hand demonstrated by Tazz's pair of Underground Quality EPs from last year, Acid Love and The World of Techno—every bit as old-school as their titles indicate, and as new-world mysterious as you'd expect from UQ—this 12-inch, his first new issue since October, ups the ante by sticking to 500 copies and not going digital.
"Underground 7" starts out with a slow-building percussion match and then, two minutes in, it breaks down to a three-note keyboard hook, later joined by bass and a friskier hi-hat rhythm, that buoys things considerably. But once that initial jolt fades, that's about it—it's a nice, old-fashioned house groove, but it's one that more or less plateaus out.
The flip, "Underground 12," builds more gradually; it's lush in a very mid-'90s kind of way—boxy bass, sighs and exhales forming a deep backdrop, tense pads—and when the first cymbal crash brightens the sound picture about two minutes in, there's a jolt—finally, the beat will drop for real (though not for another 45 seconds or so). It's a lovely track, particularly if you like limited editions. If not, and if Tsuba really does keep its word, well, don't go broke worrying about it.
Tracklist A Underground 07
B Underground 12