Swiss-born and now London based, Radovan Scasacia’s 2008 debut album as Secondo for Soul Jazz ‘A Matter Of Scale’ managed to attract significant acclaim amongst techno circles upon its release, though in truth he’d been growing in reputation and profile over the past several years, thanks to a steady stream of 12″ releases under the Secondo moniker. Two years on, this download only single on Scasacia’s own Dreck label sees a considerable stylistic shift in evidence. While ‘A Matter Of Scale’ saw Scasacia fusing lush leftfield techno landscapes with sort of fractured, hyper-edited approach favoured by the likes of Luomo and Akufen, the two tracks come across as being more pared-back and dancefloor-focused, with classic Chicago house emerging as a key reference point here. Lead track ‘I Think I’m Gonna Like’ sees Scasacia deftly folding crunching handclaps into a dry-sounding undercarriage of house snares and kicks, while jazzy synth stabs and vocal fragments dart over the top in a decidedly Kenny Dixon Jr-flavoured offering, before ‘Doktor Pangloss’ gets more dark and mysterious, flirting with more Afrocentric rhythms as deep analogue bass squelches worm their way insidiously at the bottom end of the mix. While Scasacia may have sacrificed some of the lushness and detail seen on ‘A Matter Of Scale’ in favour of increased dancefloor dynamics, fans of his previous work as Secondo shouldn’t be disappointed by the two tracks on offer here.
Chris Downton
