- Percussive house tracks cloaked in dreamy melodies.
- Loon calls. Crickets. Ambient tones. Hand drums. If your favourite dance floors tend to be compact and populated by art school grads, you have likely heard some combination of these sounds from DJs—especially those playing tracks by Bufiman, RAMZi, Don't DJ and DJ Sotofett—in the last couple years. DJ Normal 4 adds a strong UK flavour to that mix (as does his excellent label, Aiwo Rec). Second Circle, the Music From Memory sub-label, describes Tim Schumacher's sound as "broken industrial dreams mixed with escapist rave fantasies." His colourful, expressive tunes often make the latter quality most apparent.
"La Arabia""s breaky boom echoes another DJ Normal 4 track, 2016's massive "Transcendental Training Tactics." This time, countermelodic riffs and vocals gesture to the track title's geography, though those elements don't fuse naturally here. (A slightly reduced mix of this track would've been welcome.) The rest of the EP's tracks were made in 2011 and '12, and they're a mixed bag. The best is "Aeo (Ottertasia Mix)," a midnight ambient piece with whispered Spanish, riverbank atmospherics and Gregorian chant. On the solid "Rhythm Mix" of the same track, the vocalist Aenx coos the track title over undulating synth tones, crunchy guitar chords and a housey bassline. Only "Kalaidako" is a let-down. The synth melody tugs this way and that, sometimes as though straining against a leash, but the track's sleepy acid plod is unyielding.
TracklistA1 Aeo feat. Aenx (Rhythm Mix)
A2 Aeo feat. Aenx (Ottertasia Mix)
B1 Kalaidoka
B2 La Arabia