- Barcelona's Lapsus Records has shown signs of great ambition in its early stages by releasing a handful of objets d'art that also play excellent music. Their latest comes with a well-designed heavy card sleeve, clear vinyl and a generous eight tracks (all for the price of a single) by former drum & bass producer Pedro Pina. Here, however, his sound is a vigorous blend of IDM experimentalism blunted with a dance floor electro sheen that sounds something like a more synth-orientated Byetone.
Opener "Atencion" does what its name suggests and grabs the attention from the outset with its heavy kick drum and supple melodies running forcefully over a backdrop of grainy samples and menacing drones. "Lincs Poacher" follows a similar trajectory before "Fife Free" slows things down a notch. Finally, "2-8 7-Oblique 0-0" closes the side with its ricocheting guitar-like riffs which combine nicely with more overt dub elements.
The flipside kicks off with the sound of dancers trapped in a force field on "Uvb-76," while "Stimme" adds a touch of vocals to its broken beat stagger. "Hotel Kilo" is one of the standout tracks with its robotic, almost gothic core managing to be both driving and pleasantly overbearing. The fittingly named and equally excellent "Terminat" closes the set almost in techno country, with enough dark ambience to scare even Sandwell District. While there is something special to every track, the only real criticism is perhaps a lack of diversity to the sound, but it's nonetheless a feisty release from an intriguing new label.
Tracklist A1 Atencion
A2 Lincs Poacher
A3 Fife Free
A4 2-8 7-Oblique 0-0
B1 Uvb-76
B2 Stimme
B3 Hotel Kilo
B4 Terminat