Orphan 101 - Into You (Saigon Rec)

Orphan 101 - Into You (Saigon Rec) - Feb 28th
Beasting in at a galloping 140bpm, the four-to-the-floor kicks of Orphan 101's A-side Into You come on a little too strong for my liking, the subtlety of the liquid synths and the warm sense of atmosphere blurring past in a blaze of crisp boom-tish. However, Orphan101 pulled the same trick on his debut EP, also on Saigon recs, and it was bloody awesome, so I've spent some time giving this the benefit of the doubt, and have to admit there's an exceptional talent at work here. There's something a little uncomfortable about the intensity of the beat, but essentially this is top-qaulity cerebral dancefloor music; the carefully engineered synths piling up and contorting until it reaches an almost Eno-esque density. Besides, Octaedre's far too fast, and still totally works.
Barraca and Typical both pace themselves similarly, mingling slightly twisted syncopations with a sped-up technoid rhythm and hammering out future-tribal riffs for late night dancefloors. Barraca definitely stands out from the rest of the EP, managing to reference both the monotone minimalism of Sakho and the dystopian angst of Burial, with its mournful wails floating delicately on top of the hard-nosed rhythm, the depth and space of the track ebbing and flowing until a deeply warped rave finale kicks in. Good shit.