- Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Travis Stewart's productions, whether solo as Machinedrum or in collaboration with Praveen Sharma as Sepalcure, is his ability to wring every drop of feeling from a track without making it sounding trite. Two years on from their fine debut album for Hotflush, Make You finds Stewart and Sharma picking up where they left off—in a rich vein of form and still pressing the big button marked "emotive."
Built around a Whitney Houston sample (the opening line of "Love Will Save The Day," as if recorded underwater), "Make You" builds elegantly into a neo-Balearic, slo-mo footwork track. Festooned with Latin percussion, guttural sub-bass roars in the background as washes of guitar twinkle in the fore. It's beautiful. "He Said No" is no less so, with yet more acoustic guitar fluttering prettily atop it, accompanied by clipped snares and swaggering kicks.
"The Water’s Fine" is some freaky, digital skank populated by frantic analogue trills—is that an old Gibson Brothers sample in there? The subdued but twisted funk of "Rumours" doesn’t appear to have the cojones of its predecessors at first, but two minutes from the end is transformed into a rattling 4/4 drill. Finally, the beatless, 90-second long "DMD" doesn't hang around long but is warmed by yet more Spanish six-strings.
Tracklist A1 Make You
A2 He Said No
B1 The Water's Fine
B2 Rumours
B3 DMD