Conforce At Juno Download

Review: After the conceptual nature of Escapism, the recent Delsin album from the perma-brilliant Conforce, Mr Bunnik returns to the Clone Basement Series with the totally essential 24 EP. Recently the focus of a must read feature on the new breed of Dutch techno via our sister site Juno Plus, this release finds Conforce in deadly form approaching the art of the genre from different, equally sharp angles with precision results. Opening with "Grain" Bunnik pounds spectrally charged vocal groans with unrelenting layers of percussive intent and the increasing gurgle of analogue malfunction, whilst "Be There At Night" is looser in feeling, as jacking rhythms threaten to slip out of time amidst the intermittent granite thick rave stabs. On the flip recent Moustache Techno signee Gesloten Cirkel remixes the title track "24" shifting the dubby wormhole shuffle down a gear or two and introducing some delightful string plucked sensuousness.

Review: At a time when classic-sounding techno is at a premium, Boris Bunnik aka Conforce is one of its main proponents, right? Wrong. It would be too easy and simplistic to dismiss the Dutch producer as merely revisiting the sounds that were current during the mid-90s, and Escapism, like his other releases for Clone, Rush Hour and Delsin, does much to dispel any pre-conceived notions about him. One of the common themes and sources of inspiration on the album is Bunnik's love of swirling, ambient textures. Spacey melodies unfold all the way through "Aquinas Control" as a dubby, rippling bass takes hold, while on the title track, glassy percussion and shuffling 808s provide the electro backing to Bunnik's atmospheric chords. There are times too when it sounds like Conforce has completely immersed himself in electronic music's reflective, esoteric side and the evoactive, shimmering synths of "Timelapse" could have been part of a long lost sci-fi soundtrack. On other occasions, Escapism sounds earthy, grainy and twitchy, especially on the detuned textures of "Diversion" or "Revolt DX", which sees Bunnik drop a gained, jarring rhythm track. However, the real highlights occur when Bunnik occupies a place where all of these sounds meet, like the ghostly pads and forceful bass of "Elude" or the hushed tones and uplifting synths of "Ominous". It's also where you'll find this year's most eloquent articulation of techno escapism.

Review: Clone and Conforce seem like such a perfect fit and the latter's debut on the former's Basement Series does not disappoint, delivering some of his darkest sweatbox rattlers to date! "Spoiled" drips with jerky acid menace, with heavy strains of synthesized horror filling the spaces between dizzying bouts of percussive rain. It's this staccato approach to rhythmic execution that proves utterly thrilling. "Vulcan" twists itself inside out, beginning in stripped down fashion with rasping hi-hats providing the rhythmic thrust which is gradually strangled by the death grip of the raw emotive machine funk narcosis that steadily rises to the fore. Finally XDB comes through with two variants on "Spoiled" with the relentless percussive shower of the first remix a nice contrast with the more guttural acid poise of the second.