Uitgebracht
December 2011
- Neatly sidestepping expectation, Brighton's Ital Tek continues to experiment with his sound on his latest for Planet Mu. While Midnight Colour was awash with broad strokes of expansive synths and abstracted drums, Gonga feels more like a return to dance floor primitivism. The lead cut is a spasm of pitched up darbukas and springy synths. An ascending drone, like an engine's hum, is overlaid, offering a sense of syntax—locked in an endless loop of climax and reset, each one is steeper than the last.
Clearly, the frantic, functional polyrhythms of footwork—all movement, no plateau—have had an impact here. Mike Paradinas' remix takes things in even more prickly, polyrhythmic directions, with a terse R&B sample finally seeping into the mix in the track's final minute. "Pixel Haze" implements a greater depth of field thanks chiefly to undulating video game synth arpeggios and washes of pads that feel like thermal currents—throwbacks to Ital Tek's previous, more technicolour productions. "Cobalt" builds further on the economical sonic palette of "Gonga," resulting in an unyielding and clinical drum & bass styled exercise in restraint, all dry 808s and frequent, stomach churning sinkhole bass drops. A vital release in every sense.
Tracklist A1 Gonga
A2 Pixel Haze
B1 Cobalt
B2 Gonga (u-Ziq Remix)