Tapirus / D-56M The Art Of Seeing

Poverty is violence return once more deliberately shaking up the place and blurring the house / techno divide, label owners Tapirus aka Rotterdams underground techno hero Charlton and Nick Dunton of legendary techno label Surface and 65D Mavericks fame serve up a split EP... Nick throws an early stone into the water as he makes his comeback with the new and deliberately quirky D-56M side-project fusing techno and oddball Chi-Town weirdness, incorporating concepts from Zamyatin’s We, he turns in two hybrid ghetto bangers.

First up Charles takes his cue from early acid house, fusing it with techno sensibilities and turning styles on their heads with end time basses, insane bleeps and left of centre attitude. A1 is a tough rolling acidic banger with cutting beats. The super killer A2 which has been getting hammered around Europe the last year is a highlight - pure manicness and not for the faint hearted. A3 is reminiscent of Larry Heard’s early output - DX7 bass lines, beautiful melodies and lush strings fuse to create a searching acid house vibe.

On the flip AA1's French Cats is full of jazz influence... super rolling basses and Wurlitzer keys helping to carve a fresh house sound that takes Randomer-esque influences and jacks them to hell. AA2 is the super smooth but anarchic Question Authority full of sweet melodies, strings, chords, rolling old skool riffs and a super sub bass fused with dark voices – it’s purist Non-conformity with attitude, swing and message.

This EP is already getting caned by the more adventurous DJs on the circuit - Stand for something or fall for anything is the labels tag-line and you can expect more heavy hitters blurring the genre lines soon with a super-secretive project already in production from one of the world’s top players...