Berlin’s Regent continues his journey to the top like a rocket while garnering a spot on SHDW’s Mutual Rytm with his latest “Coral Knife” EP for a funky, dark, and infectiously grooving release.
Coming out of relative obscurity on the Planet Rhythm release “Iron Dreams” and getting quickly picked up as an ARTS label mainstay, Regent just continues to develop himself as a leading figure in the Techno scene. Similarly, Mutual Rytm has been particularly formative in the direction of Techno in only a relatively short period of time where people are constantly looking for new and cutting-edge Techno. It makes a lot of sense that Regent has been working with Mutual Rytm to forge a path together.
From the looks of things, and judging on vinyl sales alone, the first pressing has already sold out on release day, with some reassurance that there’s another pressing on the way. If you listen to the whole “Coral Knife” EP, it’s easy to see why. All the tracks on this EP work as functional dark stormers, heavy and fast groovers, and blended with a sentimental style that Regent has been known for. What marks a departure for Regent is how the tracks function well in any part of the set, whereas his earlier, epic heart-rendering tracks were an absolutely great way to create a peak or a way to end a DJ set. Here, the tracks all have a steady groove and pulse, and it is what really keeps things moving along at a strong clip.
The track “Encoder” is a good example of this—full of emotional content without going into Progressive or sliding into Tech Trance. This is because the groove remains the focus of the track, and the disjointed melody is still disjointed but provides a texture against the beat rather than the beat being a vehicle for the melody. And the vocal sample is certainly Dub-like in its execution. Also, on “Multiversa,” the Techno beat is very much the leading figure. The synths are treated like drums, and the distorted vocal sound is an interstitial element to create abrasive tension in the track. The track is very simple in execution but creates a lot of interest with little mixing edits over time. It’s still easy to get lost in that you don’t expect the track to end so quickly, but it does. The same concept rings true on the title track, “Coral Knife,” with the exception that the razz bassline is hunting around the stereo field, and the sentimental synths and vocal stabs have this really late ‘90s vibe to them.
Conversely, the other 3 tracks, “Brickyard”, “Driftage”, and “Nocta” all use a formula that is more hypnotic and grooving, whether it’s using rhythmic section elements like a rhythm guitar in “Driftage,” or the bassline setting up the kick in a funky way to oppose the FM-synth conga elements in “Brickyard,” or the tighter-than-spandex groove on “Nocta” that plays off the openness of the gliding synth sweeps and tweaked vocal samples. This rhythmically dense and funky side of Regent is something that seems like an exploration for Regent, and it sounds really superb, especially with the fast and tight funkiness on these beats.
If you live in the Techno world, you’ve probably heard about Regent by now, but it’s surprising that the name has really taken off so quickly. Normally, it’s exceedingly common for an artist to have a 5-year stretch where they are really trying to figure out the process of releasing music, but Regent as a producer and project name has done it all in less than a couple of years and continues to bend the ear of the scene as a whole. And by the looks of this “Coral Knife” release, there’s still so much more to grow.
-Sean Ocean
Check out Dirty Epic music recommendations here.
Listen to our podcasts here.
Find out more about our Events here.
Listen to our review picks here.
