- It's hard to make electro tunes that don't sound beholden to the '80s, and Berlin newcomer Privacy seems well aware of this. His debut for Lobster Theremin, Hypertext, doesn't fight the vintage aesthetic, opting instead for a rugged, Detroit-centric style that embraces electro tropes so tightly they become an integral part of his music. He avoids sounding derivative thanks to a clear command of the machines and ideas he uses.
Even when Privacy's angular beats are noisy and overdriven, like on "Chemical History" and "Always On," he maintains a grasp of mood and melody, with spectral pads and slight touches of reverb. Those elements are crucial to Privacy giving such familiar sounds an indelible mark, as is the way his drum sequences move loosely and seemingly independently of each other. "New Wake Trance" takes a more rigid approach to 909 patterns, and tries on raved-up stabs before settling back into stomping EBM. Privacy slows things down on "Endless Shallows," working out a laidback groove that evokes a cruise through a city at night. It's an image as classic as the music it brings to mind, and yet one that Hypertext uniquely renders with its own colors and shades.
TracklistA1 Chemical History
A2 New Wake Trace
B1 Always On
B2 Endless Shallows