Samuel L Session, with friend and frequent collaborator Van Czar, team up under Rino Cerrone’s Naples-based Unrilis Label for 4 tracks of hypnotic Techno. Taking you to that specific place in Techno, they then proceed to lock you in and keep it there on their newest offering, “Route”.
Session and Czar both have a reputation for knowing how to hit the mark in regards to what quality Techno is. But for them both, the ability to combine functional, tasteful elements with an ease and expertise just flows so naturally as seen on this “Route” EP.
When listening to Techno, one can have a real sense of knowing who has a full grasp of their tools musically, physically, and artistically. It’s no struggle, and that sort of concept is transferable to the listener. What’s more, the experience of listening to the tracks is not mired by the ability to translate ideas, rather it’s communicated with fluency so that whatever concept the artists communicate is of pure thought, where music is the delivery method.
Here on this “Route” EP, the concept has a really solid hypnosis, and the intent is to really drive you into a lost state of awareness then firmly grasp and hold onto you so that you’re essentially a victim to whatever comes next in a DJ set. Whether it is body-pushing Techno or emotional melodic states, as this “Route” release signifies, it is of a transitive capture.
In the past year, especially on the Non Series label, there’s been an emphasis on the use of hypnosis as a new way forward in Techno. Not to say Techno and hypnosis are new; the two are as inseparable as the forefinger and thumb on your right hand, but the way that a certain sect of producers have been using it has been enough to make you question your sanity, even while stone-cold sober. The first three tracks in this “Route” EP are very much like this with the groove and funk of the tracks kind of taking a back seat in the mix while the hypnosis is the front man. Whereas, the last track “Objectivism” is a groove that’s more fun and danceable, setting up a question-and-answer pattern that’s quite infectious.
“Air Raid” accomplishes this realm of uncertainty by providing a constant state of non resolution musically. Nothing in the track lets you come back to earth since most of the elements are leading upward, with even the root of the powerful bassline filtered, shortened, and unaccented. It provides quite an unsatisfied itch while the rest of the elements attempt to throw your head into orbit. Without the hot kick and hat pattern, there wouldn’t be much to hold on to. It would be like an astronaut trying to gravitate towards a small asteroid in space that one could literally put a fist through and break apart since the gravity is so weak.
“18-022” also provides this hypnosis but in a dark and insidious way. The questioning synths on the top end make you feel really uncomfortable, while the disembodied vocal pulls your attention away. And all the while, a modulated half or quarter bar sampled element repeats in heavy delay to really drive home the simulated, auditory hallucination vibes.
“Route 200” takes on this same simulated, auditory hallucinogenic energy and is a key element throughout as all the elements are strobed constantly throughout the track, building on this concept. The drums become a safe place and a savior, as they always do. If there ever was an effective hypnotic suggestion, that the drums should be the best and greatest of all instruments in Techno, this would be it. And the drums here are quite satisfying indeed.
One always comes away from releases like this a bit dazed, but if you’re a glutton for punishment and are enticed by being in this subdued state, you just keep coming back to it. This “Route” EP is a super solid piece of equipment in a DJ set for some real devastation. It doesn’t hit you over the head with hardstyle delivery or muffle you with a Powernoise bass drum, rather it becomes a skillful and artful appropriation of the tools to mess with another human’s brain and does so with expert knowledge and ease.
-Sean Ocean
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