- Brothers Ben and Tom Page are in the unusual position of being a live band at home in the dance music world. They have Four Tet to thank for it: his Text label released their glowing post-rock epic "Matthew And Toby" in 2010. Since then, the drums-and-synths duo have tried out dancier, punchier ideas—see the aptly titled "Lone Raver" on Soul Jazz. But the muddiness of their live-sounding records, and their lack of interest in precise, body-moving groove, has made RocketNumberNine a hard sell as dance music. It's usually the widescreen melodies that redeem them, giving their best tracks a rich, transportive quality.
Strip that away and there's little left, as demonstrated by this two-tracker for Border Community. The ten minute "Two Ways" is built around a pentatonic keyboard figure, one which wouldn't seem to merit ten minutes of exposition. It loops and turns over increasingly frantic drumwork, riding the crashing waves of intensity in a way that's impressive but aimless. The shorter "Balance Of Imbalance" has a similarly unconvincing core idea: a stuttering, one-note synth pattern suggests a crisper, glitchier mode, which isn't carried through in the track's unsteady drums and muddy bassline. By the second half, it sounds like the duo have no idea where they're going.
TracklistA1 Two Ways
B1 Balance Of Imbalance