Uitgebracht
September 2006
- With 'Mouth to Mouth' Matthew Dear seems to be testing us, asking how little do we actually need before we can call something a track. The two skeletal fragments here fulfil all obligations without offering any frills - they even make his 'reduced' Audion productions seem rich. It's one of the simplest, perfunctory records I've heard, but that it works can't be denied.
The eponymous A-side is a repetitive series of simple 4/4 patterns comprising drums, clicks and sirens that lock into a simple pattern early and, satisfied, keep it coming for thirteen minutes. Being this long, two minutes elapses before things really get kicking, but by then the drums are truly pounding, there's shakers and smaller squeaking noises, but they're all subservient to the deafening rocket-ship-take-offs that appear haphazardly throughout the track. Further action comes from a two-note conga riff, the most purely decorative element here, but it's the excitement wrought by the sirens that push this along. Thirteen minutes is excessive, but will allow DJs plenty of time to take a slash.
B-side 'Hot Air' offers no surprises, but more than the self-effacing title suggests. Kick and bass rumble down low like Ananda's 'Bassmaschine' before a decaying clap is unexpectedly introduced. Sine tone-like blips are transformed from melody into percussion as grey echo-drenched pulses sweep by, soothingly, before becoming jaunty and melodious. The same sirens make an appearance but here they're subdued and less frequently deployed, and while the percussion here is busier and funkier, it's the A-side that makes the noise. Nothing subtle, but subtlety's not the issue.