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Charlatan // Volte-Face
Label: BleeD Music
Format: 12"/Digital
Release Date: 11/05/15
Promoters BleeD have been bending the rules of the London clubbing circuit since late 2010. Their bookings have brought many of the darker, more abstract strands of electronic music to the capital, without detracting from the fact BleeD events are in essence, still parties. The theme of mixing the abstract with the functional has also been used in the construction of BleeD’s debut record release, composed by founder Caspar Clark operating under his Volte-Face alter-ego. The ‘Charlatan’ EP recalls hours gone by in blackened warehouses, presenting a selection of five deeply hypnotic dancefloor trips.
Considering it is the opener to BleeD’s frontier as a label, 'Until The Light Takes Us’ is notably intense. The track mounts to almost unbearable levels of pressure - Clark’s dizzying synth motif’s cutting through the air like helicopter blades getting progressively faster in preparation for take off. Alternately, Peder Mannerfelt’s recast reduces the track to it’s essentials, teasing out some wild modular squeaks and bleeps in the process.
Despite the quality of the remix, Clark has arguably taken charge of presenting a diverse release quite well on his own however. The gliding, Deepchord reminiscent ‘Sine Qua Non’ for example is followed by Clark’s most deviant of offerings, 'IXAXAAR’. The track clatters forward loosely for its opening minute, before being snapped into line by a booming 4/4 stomp. Bleeps and blips echo through the fog, stuttered voices occasionally adding to the paranoia. The EP’s title piece, ‘Charlatan’ on the other hand closes the record with swathes of warm, dust-coated ambience. It feels to some extent like a ghostly echo of the track’s opening offering - thundering rhythms and rushing chords reduced to faltering melancholy soundscapes.
BleeD have proved their value time and time again through their event series. Given that, alongside the creativity displayed across this debut release, their entry into the label game should only spell good things for the London techno scene. Watch this space.
- Published
- May 7, 2015
- Credits
- Words by Theo Darton-Moore