Under his Alexander Robotnick alias, Italian electronic producer Maurizio Dami is best known to many listeners for his 1983 Italo-disco classic ‘Problemes D’Amour’, but over the years since he’s explored some diverse stylistic territory, ranging from flirtations with world music through to a return to more dancefloor-centred sounds in the early noughties.
These days, Robotnick operates primarily in the techno / deep house spheres, a trajectory that’s definitely followed by the four new tracks collected on this new download-only EP ‘The Four Seasons’, which arrives on his own Hot Elephant label. Rather than diverging from one another thematically, there’s an overall feeling of seamless flow to these streamlined tracks.
‘Springtime’ opens proceedings with a wash of shimmering synth arpeggios and robust 4/4 kickdrums before clattering percussive polyrhythms lock around the kicks against fat bass chords, the entire track rolling with a muscular sense of purpose even as glittering arpeggios dart playfully through the mix. ‘Summer’ meanwhile gets more stripped back and tech-y as pulsing 4/4 kickdrums and wavering synths give way to shuffling hi-hats and jacking snares, the warm layers of ambient synths that coat the entire track surrounding with a gentle sense of glow as it airlessly glides past.
Elsewhere, ‘Fall’ sends spiralling arpeggiated sequences looping endlessly against a disco-funk infused bassline and noodling keyboard melodies, in what’s easily the most wistful-sounding dancefloor moment on offer here, before ‘Winter’ brings things to a close with a more electro-house centred wander through crisp, shuffling -hi-hats, rippling synth-stabs and eerily pitchbent analogue electronics, evoking the more chilly atmospheres of its titular season. Fans of Italo-tinged tech-house should be pleased by what’s on offer here – and the cover art will make you want to order a pizza.
