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Margen Position // UZB
Label: Sleaze Records
Format: 12”/Digital
Release Date: 26/09/2013
Sleaze Records have been a long standing favourite here at Stray Landings for their functional, no nonsense approach to Techno. Having celebrated their fifth anniversary at the beginning of last month, the party-come-label continues onwards and upwards, with an EP from Barcelona based Unam Zetineb, otherwise known as simply UZB. If news of a fresh Sleaze release wasn’t enough on its own, the 12” also features remixes from possibly my two favourite Marks in Techno; Mark Broom and Markus Suckut.
Zetineb’s originals adopt a fairly classic style of big room Techno, opening track ‘Crome’ bringing to mind some of the more hypnotic early productions of Dave Clarke. Thick, echoing chords run almost the entire length of the track, complementing muscular warehouse style rhythms.
Venturing down a more unsettling route, ‘Margen Position’ feels equally suited to fill large spaces, despite feeling tailored more towards early-hour plays. The track wouldn’t sound out of place alongside some of the Mote-Evolver output, drudgy low-end contrasting with the fairly clean, modulated analogue melody which leads the track.
Techno veteran Mark Broom turns in a slow burning version of ‘Crome’, capitalising on the dub-tinged chords of the original by stripping them back to create infectious swung rhythms from the remaining jagged stabs. Broom’s pruning of the track also extends to it’s rhythmic elements, turning the original’s booming, reverberated kicks into targeted blasts of low-end. Through his overall streamlining of ‘Crome’, Broom has managed to create some angular, and laden with groove, without loosing any of the deep, hypnotic appeal of the original.
Suckut employs a similar level of precision through his re-imagining of ‘Margen Position’, also shedding the original of any excessive reverb and generally boiling the track down to it’s essentials. The originals disconcerting melodic line sounds as though it has been sent through a rather severe noise-gate, as fractured snippets of the riff jut out between shuffled percussion.
- Published
- Oct 1, 2013
- Credits
- Words by Theo Darton-Moore