Uitgebracht
February 2024
- Creepy tech house for the last ones standing.
- In the hedonistic corners of Melbourne's underground, Roza Terenzi has found her latest protegé: Mabel. It's easy to see the fit. Her previous releases took elements of psytrance and prog and took them into darker, post-rave psychedelia rather than euphoria. Mabel makes strung-out, anxious tunes for when the shades are drawn and the neighbours are banging on your door telling you to turn it off and go to sleep. Her new EP, Pleasure Phoenix, is equally sinister, and leans harder into the low-end. The record's centrepiece, "All Aboard the Starship Universe," is one of the weirdest tech house tunes I've heard all year. Barren and minimal, it's not much more than a slow, sluggish bassline slithering beneath drum programming that keeps slipping out of time by a bar or two. There are occasional creaks and synth squeaks, but it's like listening to an old 10 Kilo record with someone moving the pitch control up and down.