Purple Maze Holland At Juno Download

Review: Having made his name on a steady diet of soulful, handmade house music with a focus on expressive keys, Gavin Sutherland now heads to the Delsin-affiliated Purple Maze and it's safe to say he's broadened his remit. EP opener "Eyes On The Prize" is instantly quicker than previous FF releases, and channels a mess of disco licks into a wonderful mulch with a psychedelic bent. Strangely the beat feels largely indebted to Detroit as it furiously snaps away, which strangely echoes in the troubled filtrations of "NTNLNC". It's as if the Motor City love for nagging disco loops against breakneck techno got slowed down and smacked out. "Kinski" likewise plies an unusual trade in skipping drum machine groove and starry-eyed synth touches.

Review: The somewhat shadowy Purple Maze imprint delivers some more techno-rooted experimentation from Yor, highlighting a particularly engaging and adventurous sound that plays off the hybrid rhythms of these times and offsets them with displaced sonic debris and a wilful avoidance of any dominant groove. As such you find yourself marvelling at the interlocking rhythms and textures rather than the simple pleasure of a strong beat, as dark and malevolent industrialisms contort themselves in your ear. "Dystopia" is perhaps the clearest distillation of the ethics that Yor applies to his music; a glorious melting pot of bouncing hats, off beat tom thuds and ill-defined synth lines. Highly recommended.

Review: Continuing his dedicated run of releases for Purple Maze, Yor brings yet another stellar selection of dramatic and dynamic techno to the table, both hard-hitting and surprisingly limber in its execution. "Sublimation" takes its lead from dub techno but proceeds to barrel familiar chugging chords into a high-speed tunnel of undulating noise, while "Gravity" mixes vast concrete slabs of percussion with piercing Detroit strings in a slow and arresting blend. The combination of weighty drums and airy atmospherics takes on a wonderfully claustrophobic tone on "Parallels", while "Trust" swaps some of that hissing gas for electro synths. With its bold brushstrokes and looming presence, Sublimation is quite simply an essential EP.