Blawaan - Bohla (R&S Records)Weirdly swung acid techno from Blawan on R&S records, following his debut 12" on Hessle. The Hessle release had a couple of pundits suggesting that the nimble fingers of production-shy Ben UFO might have put together the twisted beat-logic of Fram / Iddy. But that's what they said about Joe, so I'm beginning to think "it might be Ben UFO" works the same way as "may contain nuts" - highly unlikely, but pretty hard to prove either way. No-one really gives much of a damn about AFX-esque games of Clue at the moment, and frankly, Blawan's music speaks for itself; a bubbling fusion of raw 303 basslines, swung percussion and hyperactive rhythms. Much like Untold's devastating 12" for R&S, Blawan aims somewhere between the classic sound of R&S techno and the warped structures of UKG / Funky, it's acid squelch coming on like a beefed-up Bam Bam, whilst scattershot percussion bounces around, never solidifying or settling. Opener Bohla apes Untold's Stereo Freeze, with it's diving bassline uncomfortably set in the middle of the bar, and garagey beat, whilst Kaz follows a much more technoid imprint, with it's rubber-duck synth grounding the rimshot-heavy percussive workout.
For me, it's all about final track, Lavender though, which borrows a little Bambaata-esque hip-hop groove and offsets it with a squelchy melody, before bringing a dubstep-style wugga bass to the proceedings. Slightly uncomfortable, and oddly pitched at 133bpm, it's set to be a massive cross-over tune for sure.
"It's all house music anyway"
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