- Qnete's Lobster Theremin debut is a three-track EP on their white label operation, which is said to be a portal for exploring "house music and more vintage styles." Lessons In Finding fits neatly into that rubric. Its jacking drum machine workouts studiously follow the Midwest tradition, and the warm bass and synth melodies are faint ripples from Burrell Brothers-style Nu Groove material.
Record buyers and DJs with a knowledge of golden-era club music from Detroit, Chicago and New York could feel they have little use for a record like this. That would be a shame—Qnete's jams may reference the spirit of their forebears, but he assembles them without retrofitting that era's lo-fi textures onto them. ("The Point," a needling techno track released on ZCKR in February, retained Qnete's sleek watermark even as it explored entirely different territory.)
"I Might Be Wrong"'s bassline has a passing resemblance to something you might find on an NY House'n Authority 12-inch, but it betrays the cleaner click and grind of Qnete's contemporary set-up. "A Luv Jam"'s serene synth melodies and modular squiggles foreground the Bremen producer's modern methods further, and a bittersweet bass pad sequence on "Dresden" offers more evidence that Qnete might outgrow this EP's influences pretty quickly.
TracklistA1 A Luv Jam
A2 I Might Be Wrong
B1 Dresden