- Released on the new label A Future Without, Vessel's Wax Dance shares the moody dynamics and abraded sonics of El Kid's Hypnosis. Vessel's a master of combining worn samples, synthesizers and drum machines into a sound that suggests another material entirely, the way a chemical solution yields its precipitate. It's a chalky sound, with bitcrushed grit smeared between the beats.
Despite the title, there's not much dancing here. Nominally house, "Wax Dance" proceeds with a stumbling 4/4 beat and what might be creaky hinges. There's a hint of Farben in the hissing drums; overdriven synths and vocal samples take on the texture of raw meat beneath a particularly blunt bassline. "James Dean" sounds like Actress remixing "Tubular Bells," with minor-key arpeggios against a nervous, double-time bassline and slow, lurching drums. The sound quality suggests low bit-rate YouTube rips, but it's neither off-putting nor precious, and wild dub delay creates its own kind of warmth to compensate for the general chill.
"Cuba" is laidback funk in a Floating Points vein, but rendered in Vessel's particularly gauzy tones; "Blowback" and "Trapped Wave" both sink to hip-hop tempos. The former, a kind of funky riposte to Andy Stott's recent work, is somewhere between slo-mo boogie and chopped-and-screwed bleep techno, all squelch and lead shoes. The latter is weirdly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with chipper portamento synths and a hint of acoustic guitar. Like most of the EP's tracks, it's less than three minutes long, and it leaves you wanting more.
Tracklist 01. Wax Dance
02. James Dean
03. Blowback
04. Cuba
05. Trapped Wave