Thursday 7 February 2013

subtech - city lights

subtech was on many levels the sister project to circulation, mostly because matt jackson was a part of both but they also operated on the same idea. release a record every two to three months with different songs on both sides and then do some remixes every once a while. they also both folded as projects back in '05 and i should note that there is a current project called subtech operating but is not matt jackson & matt dunning but i take it that they aren't going to bring it back or take action.

the main difference between circulation and subtech was that while the sounds still was in that housier area, subtech leaned more on the progressive side and there was extensive use of reverbs. "city lights" was something i heard in a set and loved the groove and the pad in the breakdown. right from the start of the track there is a reverbed bassline that carries the track throughout and elements are tacked on starting with the drums and percussion and they are drenched.

you get a sense of the scope of affect when the only element that isn't treated with this amount is the second drumloop that come in after two minutes and cuts through the trail. like with most of subtech's output the emphasis isn't on melody but groove and hooks are usually a filtered sample or the bassline. it's a rather heavy groove and quite addictive and it's definitely something throwback progressive house or trance set with all those spacious james holden-esque records.

listen here (youtube)

No comments: