Cari Lekebusch & Jesper Dahlback / ‘Hands On Experience’
Vinyl / Digital
H Productions / Released January 31st 2011
It’s difficult to tell what they have been putting in the Swedish water this year. Suffice to say, it’s the same powerfully muscular beat-formula they’ve been using for years, though given the wealth of releases that have escaped from the Scandinavian nation in the last few weeks alone, it seems the max-strength option has been used, as the usual January thaw has taken little time to take place.
So here we are then, sweating while basking in the eternally disorienting glow of a strobe light. Headbanging starts as it means to go on, bass up, hi hats in place, like the caps on some fantasised factory-floor machine. Add a few snares, and the kind of bassline that makes you know Mr Dahlback’s in the building well before you check the artistic credits, and what you’ve got is something born of exactly what it says on the tin. Experience is something both masterminds boast, and here it’s good to see them putting such wisdom to good use.
Rockers is also worth mentioning. Timo Maas would have been hammering this way back when, largely thanks to its building-shaking bassline. And the same can be said for Moodswing. As if showing Sandwell District and the like who the real daddies are, the latter’s quality is all about the relationship between kick and bassline. Because, despite all preconceptions of structure, they work perfectly together, ensuring that, while being minimal, the final product is nowhere near predictable.
All in all we’d have to opt for the intent-filled Bellbottom if we were going to pick a favourite from the four, and that’s by no means an easy task. It’s here though that the very essence of both producers’ success is most evident. Drummy, druggy, driving and purposeful club music, the design is all about dancing. As we take the first steps into another 12 months that will no doubt result in the invention of more micro genres, and the continued re-appraisal of every aspect of electronic music, it’s nice to think things can still be this simple.
