Don't Try This At Home // Chris Finke

Label: Hidden Recordings

Format: 12”/Digital
Release Date: 14/03/13

Chris Finke’s DJing career extends far beyond that of his forays into production, having DJ’d professionally as early as 2002. These experiences have had an undoubtable effect on Finke’s music; the structure of each four tracks of Don’t Try This At Home feels carefully considered, creating narratives with apparent ease.

Opener and title track ‘Don’t Try This At Home’ sets a production standard and a close-knit percussive structure which endures for the duration of the EP. Cymbals scrape alongside skittering hats and crunchy hits, cemented by Finke’s thickset kick drums. The most captivating ingredient of ‘Don’t Try This At Home’ however, has to be Finke’s grating synth-work, a trait rightfully exploited through Black Asteroid’s volatile remix.

Opening with an earsplitting measure of noise, Black Asteroid’s remix is a cacophonous battering from start to finish. Finke’s aforementioned synth chords are modulated to the extreme, wide-panning across the mix over frantic rhythms, and the occasional blast of noise.

Decidedly the most House orientated of the EP’s four offerings, ‘Cala Vadella’ is owner to one of the most infectious bass grooves i’ve ever encountered. Loosely following Finke’s hammering kick drums, this funk-inflected riff endures for the entirety of the track, brought to the fore from its rather timid, filtered beginnings. Midway through the track Finke’s simple but effective formula is joined by pointed stabs, punctuating ‘Cala Vadella’s dense groove on the offbeat.

The assorted elements of aptly titled closer ‘Warehouse Syndrome’ are rigorously clamped to Finke’s compact rhythms - atmospherics are also mercilessly sidechained to thunderous kicks. A startlingly abrupt siren breaks the trance created by Finke’s hypnotic rhythms around a minute and a half in, signifying a significant increase in intensity.

Similarly to his offerings to last year’s Parallel Series 3 for Mote-Evolver, it is the sense of energy created by his vivacious grooves that really set the tracks on this EP apart from those of his contemporaries, and I for one hope this isn’t a trait Finke will be dropping anytime soon.

• Published
• Apr 18, 2013

• Credits
• Words by Theo Darton-Moore