Diskotopia

Artwork by A Taut Line
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Buy from: Boomkat / Bandcamp
  1. Snowblinded
  2. Find A Way
  3. The Loa
  4. Clarity
  5. 7th Door

Diskotopia co-founder BD1982 returns for the Spring of 2019 with the five-track 7th Door EP; a tempo-fluid collection that highlights the innate nuances of Brian Durr’s ever-changing sound in motion. Continuing down the microdose-hallucinatory path, first stridden in 2018’s Decades Tempest mini-LP, then further explored in the Arclight EP, BD1982’s productions across the 7th Door EP delve deeper again into the artist’s exuberance for merging disparate sonic fields. The result is a transcendent yet grounded exposition of original sound, that stands proudly on its own in the contemporary music world.

The undulating groove of ‘Snowblinded’ is touched with an otherworldly air; strands of kwaito, calypso and late 80s Sheffield bleep techno fuse with a broken digi-tribalist tuffness. A modulating staccato bassline and narcotic vocal add additional contrasting layers of dread to the staggered pacing.

Taking on more of a soundclash-prepped demeanor, ‘Find A Way’ gels woken-consciousness synth pads and buoyant beacons of sine wave within an interlocked but angular MPC rhythm shockout. A Futurist-Amazonian club tool suitable for both dark basements and glass-floored observation platforms.

Manic yet meditative, ‘The Loa’ is a broken chamber of electronic funk that launches melting drums, cosmic synth-cussion and metamorphic vocals to the farthest reaches of the solar system. Hints of early grime, nu-jack swing, and dub coalesce into something hard to grasp entirely - like a dream half-remembered during a headrush experienced watching an orchestra tune up.

With percussion sampled from teenage drum machine experiments on cassette circa 1996, the instrumental ‘Clarity’ provides anything but. Ingrained senses of both nostalgia and longing are carried and amplified through a soaring laser-point synth melody and half-mumbled phone messages left from days of future past.

The EP’s title track ‘7th Door’ is one of the most cinematic, expansive and driving experiments yet in BD1982’s constantly evolving domain. Drawing slightly more influence from the 80s EBM and industrial music that soundtracked his formative years, a striking staccato synthesized string pattern careens ever forward, while haunted electric piano and overdriven bass provide a prescient level of transcendental accompaniment over dubbed and processed drums. Treated metallic vocals narrate of a “mid-day sun gleaming down,” that “she spoke in words of yesterday” reciting over a haunting yet hopeful closure to this latest chapter of Durr’s warehouse soul.

Strange Energy by Greeen Linez

Luaka / Sidewise Dub by Memotone