- Thanks to the inclusion of "Plesso" on Tama Sumo's entry in Ostgut's Panoramabar mix series later this month, the previously modest profile of Ireland's Lerosa looks set to increase considerably within the next few months. As if that wasn't enough of a boost, Apnea's latest offering sees him team up with Donato Dozzy—an Italian talent enjoying a similar surge following a string of consistently acclaimed deeper-than-deep releases—for a solid EP's worth of forward-thinking, moody afterhours chuggers.
Apnea's output has typically been bent toward the deeper end of the techno spectrum, and here both Lerosa and Dozzy push the label's aesthetic further, choosing to take the speed down a notch and weave their respective styles together in four tracks delving as low as 100 BPM ("Acid Snake") and reaching as high as 124 BPM ("Gas Snake"). Usefully, the "snakes" in question all live up to their taxonomic designations—none more so than "Big Snake," a suitably lithe crawler punctuated with loose bass stabs and flicking percussion. After the misty "Gas Snake" (a dubbier cut Luke Hess fans might want to take note of), "Neon Snake" is the most DJ-friendly choice here, with a controlled tension marking out its obvious role as a stinging little set pacer.
Things are rounded off with the subdued "Acid Snake," whose modulating synths and gentle piano refrains slither along slowly to eventually offset its own hypnosis-inducing acid wobble. In the end, Lerosa and Dozzy's combined skills come together brilliantly to create a fresh and well-rounded exercise in deep techno experimentation with enough backbone to charm even the most exploratory listener.
Tracklist A1 Big Snake
A2 Gas Snake
B1 Neon Snake
B2 Acid Snake