- "I'm more a rhythmically interested person," Moritz Von Oswald told Jordan Rothlein in 2013. "I'm interested in putting things like chords or harmonic elements into rhythms." From Maurizio to Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound, Von Oswald has proven himself one of electronic music's top hypnotists, pairing abstract melody with subtle rhythms. The same goes for Juan Atkins, who linked up with Von Oswald in 1992, only for their collaboration to go on hiatus for 21 years until it returned as Borderland, in 2013. Angles, the pair's first release since 2016's Transport album, captures the most colourful side of their sound.
Angles presents two versions of one track. "Concave 1" is shorter and a touch deeper, with a bassline that trudges alongside looped dub chords moving through different stages of decay. "Concave 2," which almost hits ten minutes, feels more organic, thanks to warm tape hiss and squiggling synths that sound like bird calls. Sounds perfect, right? Almost. Both tracks have sections where a loud clap lands on every beat, which feels like the dub techno equivalent of yanking the blanket from someone having a late-morning snooze. Even so, they're minor distractions in otherwise killer loops.
TracklistA Concave 1
B Concave 2