Throwing Snow - Shadower

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  • A year after his debut vinyl release—for Alexander Nut's Ho Tep label—London's Ross Tones brings his Throwing Snow alias to Sneaker Social Club, a new label from Hypercolour's Jamie Russell. That's an unusual constellation of reference points: Hypercolour is best known for punchy tech house from the likes of Maya Jane Coles and Mark Henning; Ho Tep, with links to Nut and Floating Points' Eglo records, is all about the deeper side of bass and beat music, from boogie to funky. But Tones manages to split the difference, preserving the lushness of his first EP—which sounded at times like Martyn remixing Cocteau Twins—while exploring far more forceful house grooves. "Shadower" reminds me a little bit of T. Williams' "Heartbeat"; the Throwing Snow track has a heavier groove, with tough, syncopated toms and claps, but the drowsy, dreamy vibe is similar. Wordless vocals and muted steel drums and flutes sketch a broad harmonic horizon, intermingling faint Caribbean echoes with strains of British folk; ringing 808s cut through the prettiness, urgent and detuned. There's not much else like it out there. "Sanctum," a few BPM faster, taps into the spirit of Joy Orbison's vocal-heavy hypnosis, with a breathy coo stretched from end to end like a guy-wire. Tones' sound design, though, is tougher; the breakbeat has been cobbled together from a handful of overdriven hits, and a saxophone riff is so saturated, it's almost dripping. The effect vaguely resembles Four Tet and Caribou's style of tribal club concrète, but again, there are those sharp analog pings to bring us back to a more traditional techno context—specifically, the Sheffield bleep sound of Tricky Disco and Sweet Exorcist. Bleeps, breakbeats and bass: the 'nuum is strong in this one.
  • Tracklist
      A Shadower B Sanctum
RA