A beautiful and well crafted release off Delsin Records features Claudio PRC with three cuts of deeply expressive, slow techno on colored vinyl as the latest installment of their long-running Cameron Series.
A year full of higher BPMs and ever decreasing space between the beats, there are some artists that say, ‘no, I refuse.’
It pays to listen to these people, not because they are anti-trendy, but because they have something to say and a reason to say it. With Delsin, they are sticking to their guns with the vetted Cameron concept. With Claudio PRC, it feels like the message he wants to really express here is within the beauty of these deep sounding pads and calming, noisy textures. The drums and the grooves are vehicles to express the progression within those elements. To represent the Cameron ideal, Claudio PRC has come out with 3 tracks that are rather breathtaking.
First track up here is “Mana” which really dips down into the schneckno range around 100-110 BPM and presents a great and welcoming sound bath and ambient field recordings as its opening statement. The track slowly builds with a peaceful kick and bass groove where the only high end bits are within the occasional high resonance synth sweeps. Soon the muted high hats emerge from the fog and join the groove. They’re designed to brilliantly compliment the rainy and windy field recordings. Stunning execution all around here.
Next track “Tonal” starts off with a soft body kick framed by a tape saturated noise layer that lends a fuzziness to the drum elements and dubbed out synth hits. The namesake of the track comes from the main leading tonal progression that creates a basis for the rest of the elements in the track to groove on. The track calls on well known 90s hypnotic groove aesthetic, but it is an idea that is informed by dub techno influences. The combination of the two here, to my recollection, hasn’t really been seen before. That combination is conceptually unique since it makes two very well-trodden paths in techno new, and very modern.
Last up on this three tracker, is “Orakle” a track whose base is rooted in a broken kick pattern and strong deep ambience that is slightly stern but not arbitrarily dark. The track could easily fall into a dark ambient vein with big swaths of synths being sent into reverberations overhead, but Claudio PRC keeps it tasteful, hypnotic and subdued. “Orakle” also seemingly could go on forever since it is very easy to get lost in the ambience, but the artist keeps it to the point. He leaves you stuck replaying the fluted synths in your mind, sitting with the silence and the afterglow of what previously transpired as the record hits the run out grooves.
Delsin again, with this release and Claudio PRC, has brought the goods. If you haven’t been apart of their Cameron series and followed it, this EP may have turned your head and will encourage you to dig into their catalog for gems from really well known techno musicians who have took on the Cameron mantle. While it’s deeper techno, it’s not exactly ambient techno of B12, The Black Dog, Aphex Twin and (the late) Richard H. Kirk. It comes from a more progressive place within dub techno, as well as slower uptempo techno, and deep house concepts. As for an idea that is scratching out a niche alongside many artists who just want to bang out club burners and big warehouse stormers, there’s something that has to be said about a need for music to bring home with you, to sit down cross-legged between two big hi-fi speakers and put on a record. All too often this aspect of music is now overlooked in favor of convenience and excitement. But for those who make the time, they will be beautifully rewarded by artists and labels that really take the time to craft techno such as this.
-Sean Ocean
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