- Forgettable big-room techno.
- Dystopian, a party once known for intense, driving techno, settled on a more cinematic sound for its label arm some years go. Through records from core artists like Alex.Do, Recondite and Rødhåd, the Berlin outlet largely said goodbye to the tunnelling, tool-like style of its early releases, instead turning to the grand, atmospheric sounds more associated with outfits like Innervisions and Afterlife. Those scenes—big-room techno, big-room tech house—eventually merged, a development reflected in the lineups of the hugely successful Afterlife party series, and the back-to-back sets Rødhåd plays with Âme, a cofounder of Innervisions.
Drought, the new EP by Monoloc, shows where Dystopian currently sits as a label. The title track's synths, channeling the so-called "neo-trance" sound championed by Afterlife and its surrounding artists, are its only distinctive element. Other than the quick tempo and hammering percussion, there's not much separating it from, say, a Denis Horvat track. "Inner Reduction" and "From The Method" are even more forgettable, cloaking broken rhythms in thick swathes of atmosphere, a familiar combination that's been diluting techno records for years. That leaves "Mufon," which is more club-friendly. Only this time the sound feels intentionally lo-fi, which means it won't work for most techno DJs. Drought is like a lot of big-room music: plenty of ambition, not much character.
TracklistA1 Inner Reduction
A2 Drought
B1 Mufon
B2 From The Method