Border One puts out another unmissable EP with “Strange Attractor” released on Token and proves that you can have a hi-fi presence even on the most lo-fi dancefloors.
There has got to be some mysterious juju going on in Border One’s Techno; it is really hard to pin down. Across this “Strange Attractor” EP, there’s a superb and calming clarity amid the beats, almost as if there’s a desire to throw away any superfluous distortion amid the master mix. Everything is brought up to a clarity that’s well rounded. The individual parts are not very thick, heavy handed, or left to chance in order to make things sound perfect. The overall characteristic of the EP here is that it sounds kind of exactly how a newly minted vinyl record looks.
Firmly pressed together with compression, “Strange Attractor” is groovy, a bit shiny with great production values, and rounded off on all sides with the right amount of reverb. If you’re one of those people who has a stool in front of their turntable with great headphones and stares hunched over like a prawn at a spinning record for kicks, then maybe you’re identifying with this right now— maybe even in the same way Border One has. Perhaps, the idea is to keep things tidy at the master so your system can have a chance to influence the sound. Every listening experience adds a little nuance to any music, and most mastering aims to mitigate this.
Indeed, Minimal Techno itself is best played in a massive warehouse with the corrugated sheet metal rattling on a massive sound system. It seems that Border One has found a medium in which to translate from the most expensive mastering headphones to the most grungy, home-brew speaker systems.
The big standout on this release is “Time Dilation”. It’s simple, direct, and has the right amount of groove to get the party started. You might count on one hand the amount of elements that are playing at any given time. It highlights the mysteriousness of the EP as well. There’s no reason why these few elements shouldn’t work, but then again, there’s the quality of the intent, naturalness, and sincerity of what’s placed on the sonic stage. This is why “Strange Attractor” is such an apt name for this release… You’re immediately drawn in by curiosity and rewarded with a tidy package of well-made music that you can take anywhere.
-Sean Ocean
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