Texan electronic producer Dustin Evans first made his debut as Textasy last year with a couple of distinctly retro / rave-centred 12” EPs on E-Beamz and Natural Sciences, and this latest 12” EP on Glasgow label Craigie Knowes ‘Dallas Gun Club’ sees his infatuation with breakbeat-driven warehouse euphoria continuing.
‘Blow Your Head’ opens the first side with a bass-heavy slice of Skint Records-esque big beat that pits rattling ‘Amen’ breaks against wafting electro pads and what sounds like part of the vocal sample from Human Resource’s ‘Dominator’ threaded through the rhythms. Towards the second half, there’s a focus on squiggling acid 303 lines and manic scratching, the resulting busy fusion calling to mind one of Luke Vibert’s more warehouse rave tinged explorations as blurred ‘Pacific State’-esque pads float through the mix.
By contrast ‘Eternal Gurn (Manik Piano Edit)’ conjures up the spirit of Altern8 as rapid-fire proto-junglist breakbeats and sampled grunts hammer through the mix against spiky piano riffs and orgasmic female moans, in what’s perhaps this EP’s most openly UK rave fetishist moment -indeed The Prodigy circa ‘Experience’ rears its head as the most immediate comparison point here as house kickdrums hammer off into the distance.
On the flipside, ‘I’m The Needle’ continues the love affair with stabbing rave pianos, sending them darting against burbling electro synth sequences and clattering breakbeats while sampled yells echo through the mix, in an offering that carries more than a hint of Chicago in its limber rhythms. Lastly, ‘20th Century Bass’ rewires the controls towards dark Dopplereffekt-esque electro as blocky bass notes bounce against pitchshifting robovox and zapping snares, the eerie minor key pads that waft through injecting a sense of nightdrive atmosphere that’s reminiscent of classic Model 500.
Glo-stick and pacifier-enabled retro-futurism is alive and well on this characteristically relentless EP from Textasy. Grab your Vicks.
