Reposition, Valtow's debut EP, deftly showcases his signature sound across three highly sophisticated productions.
The opener High Kastle unsettles with haunting synths, buzzing electrical samples, purring bass, and a hypnotic beat. Isolated snares and drum sticks attack fleetingly, giving the track a deconstructed, skeletal feel, before the soundscape turns a dark corner, as if booming, squealing and groaning under its own tension, until the whole piece dissolves into the ether.
Moxa treats the listener to an exquisite garage beat with skittering rim shots, paired with delicate, divine, swelling synths. The track takes unexpected turns into addictive grooves, pregnant pauses, and a hand drum and triangle interlude, before the future garage returns, with euphoric, mangled vocal snippets that recall Burial.
The title track teases with a pounding four-on-the-floor beat, then quickly subverts this, disorientating the listener with dislocated samples and broken beats. The icing on the cake is a quirky, delirious organ riff, before the pressure and density builds to a crescendo of fizzes, bleeps, and whip crack snares.
credits
released October 15, 2020
Production / composition: Konrad Valtow
Artwork: _goshky
Mastering: Oliver Cathcart
Oliver Rhodes, aka Paracusia, captures a spectrum of moods from dreamy nostalgia to wiry anxiety on this EP of highly textural bass music. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 9, 2021