Caravan Recordings is a forward looking label and have released some of the best electronic music over the past couple of years, could their new signing Emptyset be an exception; I don’t think so.
Emptyset are James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas and their debut album is a continuation of their tech house minimal sound of last years’ Doxa EP.
The heart of this album is the four parts of ‘Gate’ that’s part gloomy dubstep derivative (an experimental King Cannibal Let The Night Roar if you like?) and part (Part 2 anyway) playroom ping-pong bounce that transforms (as ‘Gate 3′) to a dance floor groove.
And whilst on the subject, it’s ‘Beyond’ that really gets the trainset out of the shed (best track on the CD) and then ‘Completely Gone’ ups the tempo the whole thing races away as if it’s off to Berlin with no speed control.
‘Beyond 2′ is a bit stuck in it’s own groove for an easy listen and whilst it’s not dubstep, you can feel comparisons that really get throbbing on ‘Gate 4′.
Now if I was putting this set together I’d have probably gone for the tried and trussed ‘journey’ approach which would work, but you’d have probably lost the shock value of ‘Gate 4′ or the pace of ‘Completely Gone’.
The CD ends on the upbeat with ‘Awake’ and I like the ambient ping pong the more I hear it; not too subtle or in your face (if you get my drift) and the downbeat ‘Over’ lets you down easy-ish.
You can image James and Paul as a couple of geeks that are just as likely to subscribe to Practical Electronics Monthly as Wire and have all the back catalogue of Kraftwerk – so they do fit in rather well with the rest of the Caravan family like Etalon (he of Common EP) and head honcho, October (he of Houston EP).
Not as dubby as Sinister Dub or upbeat as 2562′s Unbalanced but Emptyset have got that bass heavy Bristol sound; Note: you won’t fall asleep to ‘Awake’
Reviewed: Emptyset – Emptyset (Caravan) Cat. No. CVANCD002 Release date: 9th November 2009
Tracklisting:
1. Aleph (2:41)
2. Gate 1 (3:17)
3. Gate 2 (4:31)
4. Beyond (5:57)
5. Gate 3 (3:22)
6. Completely Gone (6:08)
7. Beyond 2 (2:32)
8. Gate 4 (2:12)
9. Awake (4:11)
10. Over (2:21)
Links:
www.myspace.com/emptysetmusic
a href=”http://www.myspace.com/djoctober”>www.myspace.com/djoctober
a href=”http://www.myspace.com/etalonmusic”>www.myspace.com/etalonmusic
www.myspace.com/matiasmakesmusic
Caravan Recordings www.myspace.com/djoctober
www.thewire.co.uk
