- Sophisticated and cerebral techno from a future superstar.
- If you don't know Anna Kost yet, it's only a matter of time. The 23-year-old Berliner has emerged from the doldrums of lockdown on a tear. After a few one-offs on labels like Soma in 2021, 2022 saw her breakthrough as something of a Scuba protege. She had two killer EPs on Hotflush spinoff Who Whom before stepping up to the marquee label with the single "Let Me Be" (oh, and did I mention a HÖR set of all originals?). "Let Me Be" is a distillation of everything exciting about her sound: the rhythms are jagged, staggered with the feel of UK techno, while the melody alternates between whimsy and wiry whiplash. Now she returns to Hotflush with See Life Better, a breathtaking overview of contemporary techno that has something for the chinstrokers and the bass bin worshippers alike.
Depending on how hard you like your tunes, either "Dub89" or "Blind Spot" is the obvious hit. "Blind Spot" should already be on the USBs of just about every Berghain resident. It nails the current zeitgeist perfectly: the drums are broken and stuttering while the synth work flirts with abrasion as it fills every corner of the stereo field. I'm partial to "Dub89," where a syncopated rhythm and pensive vocal sample are offset by muscular synth work and a crystalline key pattern. This is the sort of track that sounds as good at 4 AM in a warehouse as it does on a rainy Sunday afternoon in your living room.
While these two are the showstoppers, the others are almost as good. Kost aims straight for the gut with "Lammak," a storming piece of peak-time fare with a playful touch, thanks to the lead synth somewhere between whale cry and Wall-E. On "21F" she looks to the afters with a slinky, sinister number that you could imagine someone like DJ Masda playing in a marathon set. This is all to say that even though it's only February, I feel confident saying that See Life Better is one of the most versatile techno EPs you'll hear all year. The fact that Kost is turning these sorts of sophisticated records out so early in her career speaks to her formidable skills and ear. Mark my words: we are watching the emergence of a future superstar.
Tracklist01. Dub89
02. Lammak
03. Blind Spot
04. 21F