Monday 26 September 2011

Claire Ripley – Sweat EP

I'm not really a fan of swearing in the names of tracks/labels/nights… it just all seems a bit adolescent. "Ooh, look at me, I used a bad word, aren't I naughty?" etc. But in this instance we'll forgive Ms Ripley – just this once, mind – cos this EP headed up by the charmingly-titled DJ Fuckhead is a proper deep techy bomb.

"Which came first… shitty rave music, or the drugs?" asks a male voice in the aforesaid lead cut, while in the background the steady kicks and the wobbly treated organ (?) that doubles as both bassline and lead chug away nicely from start to finish. At just 122.82 BPM (according to Traktor) and with no big obvious hooks it's not going to be getting hammered at peaktime in big clubs in Ibeefa or anything, but drop this on the right floor at the right time and it'll slay 'em. Mark E then provides a remix which starts out just as uncompromisingly slow, dark and druggy, but then adds slightly more energetic techno percussion and some squelchy acid filth as the track progresses. Which is just fine, as it goes.

The accompanying Lois Eats Mud, meanwhile, is a brighter-sounding but still relatively sedate affair… if I was gonna anthropomorphise this tune, I'd cast it as a shy-but-pretty girl swaying gently on the fringes of the dancefloor. In Bearweasel's hands, though, it becomes more of stripped-down, dubby thing that makes me think of listening to early Strictly instrumentals on Mogadon. Not that I've ever actually done that, you understand, but you get the idea.

So, childish cussing aside, this is thoughtful, techno-informed, forward-thinking house music from a rising star of the scene. Hurrah!

Out: This week

About: Claire Ripley has had stuff out before on Steve Bug's Dessous and Aki Bergen's Neurotraxx, which is another clue as to the kind of cerebral-but-groovy electronica contained herein. This particular, single, however, comes to you courtesy of Alex Arnout's Sheffield-based Dogmatik Digital.

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