Fresh off the back of the now sold-out 'Your Mouth In My Hands' single for Minor, Relapse turns to his own Burden imprint for the first time to release his most substantial and accomplished body of work to date. This release is a split with Amen-talist Movement who gordon has worked alongside with for several years now.
A varied EP exploring drum-funk themes and structures, spanning 5 tracks, the Punctuality EP is a heady trip through the ruffest analog breaks, emotive melodics and, most rewardingly, unconventional arrangements.
An exercise in both maximal and minimal, the rawest and frantic amen workouts here channel the spirit of Bassbin & Scientific Wax without being revivalist and these are paired with contrastingly stripped-back edits and delicate percussive phrases. It's this exploration of contrast between dense, heavily saturated drum breaks and brittle percussive edits that builds a tense narrative throughout the 5 tracks.
The Punctuality EP opens with the deceivingly restrained, dread filled intro of 'Accursed', which drops swiftly into a storm of filtered breaks and crafty edits before switching back into low-slung half-time pressure.
Immaculate drum processing and editing is a theme explored throughout the ep, This continues on 'Crack Pipes And Fox Bites', cascading breaks which are peppered with contrastingly delicate fills and edits.
Midway through, 'Punctuality' takes a surprising turn, plunging into the melancholic 'fE3d'. Captivating sound design, laced with ferric hiss & brittle percussion gives way to the dreadnaught weight of halftime kicks and the very outreaches of dubwise production techniques. Phrases bleed in & out of the mix and are punctured with jagged percussive tools, all the while underpinned by serious bassweight.
This introspective cut is swiftly followed by the contrastingly euphoric 'Private Horror Show' - a title wave of amen breaks pushed to their very limit sit front & centre, pushed and pulled around by crafty time stretching and spliced with sections of calm to build tension in a masterful way.
'Slug Portal' rounds off the EP. Arguably the standout of the whole release, the intro is framed in a vocal passage before plunging into an abyss of filtered drum work. Chopping and changing at every turn, this track and indeed the whole EP, keeps the listener on their toes.
Venturing beyond a straight-up club EP, Relapse has crafted something that works equally well on a home stereo as it does in a club.
Audio -
soundcloud.com/burdenimprint/relapse-punctuality-ep-minimix-amen-tal-burden-imprint