Sleeparchive / Ronan Point
Digital / Vinyl
Tresor Records / Released May 16th 2011
What does it sound like?
Fans of dark and quite scary techno will already know, as the release fits wholly into the classic blueprints for both imprint and artist. Those who spend more time in the sunlight should expect bleeps, echoed claps and plenty of bassline. It’s not so much mechanical as post-industrial, sounding like some future factory coming to life and then churning out beats.
It’s said that Jeff Mills recommended Sleeparchive to the folks at Tresor when they were busy with the label relaunch last year, and it’s not difficult to see why. Here we’re once again given that same disturbingly potent brew, wherein all tracks are named after the EP title, and are less individual pieces, more different glances at the same picture. So whereas Ronan Point Three is a mind-meltingly repetitive white noise and cymbal cacophony set to a heartbeat rhythm, ‘No. 4’ enters the fray like Surgeon getting nasty, existing in the canon that originally laid dubstep’s foundations, well before the MCs and rudeboys got on it. Nevertheless, they’re both built from the same gritty materials.
Where would I dance to it?
Inside the mind of a lunatic. Failing that the legendary German club that gave rise to this label wouldn’t be a bad second, or your nearest dark techno session.
What highlights can I expect to hear?
Difficult to say, given the contents. The first instalment’s stepping kicks and sonar-hook are exactly why people love the producer, but ‘No. 2’ is focused on more traditional dancefloors, offering a more stripped reading of this unsettling sound that is, for want of a better word, a little jacking.
Why should I pay for it?
Vinyl’s going to make this one sound exactly as intended, with the low end shaking every house on any street. If, on the other hand, you prefer more compact files, then really it’s all about decency: you like, you buy.
Where can I buy it?
Boomkat, Norman Records, Chemical Records, Juno, shops on actual roads.
