Rrose Tulip Space

"[Rrose] deploys the time-honored materials of techno at its purest...in a way that is overwhelmingly immediate, at once bone-shaking and mind-melting. Since Rrose's first EPs, in 2011, [Seth] Horvitz has worked techno's standard tropes into an increasingly elastic form, leaning into the destabilizing effects of repetition and relishing the impact of small changes carried out gradually. This is a music of exacting precision and also profound mystery." -Pitchfork
The first solo EP from Rrose since 2019's critically acclaimed full-length Hymn to Moisture, Tulip Space combines dancefloor and experimental elements with a confounding cohesiveness. The opening track clocks in at 133 BPM and is generated from a single distorted kick drum processed and sculpted to form multiple layers of percussion. With the addition of a 909 hi-hat and snare drum, Rrose proceeds to melt the dancefloor without a synthesizer, melody, or chord in sight. "Squared" quantizes the sound of a creaking metal hinge to create a destabilizing psychoacoustic rhythm riding in and out of sync with a throbbing sub bass. On the B-side, "In Place of Matter" is a driving piece of resonant analog synth-led techno that manages to feel intensely frenetic at just 96bpm. The EP closes with a spiraling piece of rhythmic noise that melts into a low frequency stew, a parable for the times.