“Perpetual Booty Grooves Vol. 1″—three no-nonsense hardgroove floor-fillers from Palinoia’s head booty groover, Eric Cloutier.
Eric Cloutier’s latest “Perpetual Booty Grooves Vol. 1″ EP is a testament to his time spent digging not only in dusty record bins, but also the muddy trenches on the front lines of the Techno scene. Cloutier is a native of Detroit and grew up surrounded by Techno. In particular, he gravitated toward what was then described as “tribal” before it eventually reclassified as “hardgroove,” when the subgenre became more and more associated with Ben Sim’s label of the same name.
That said, Cloutier’s origins in Detroit do not define him or his stylistic predilections. Eventually he moved to New York and is now based in Berlin. Each of these cities have influenced him in their own ways. Along the way, he has honed his sonic palette to more minimally-tinged and dubbed-out after years of playing in cavernous clubs and bunker-like basements.
Now, after a long break of releases on his label Palinoia, Cloutier claps back with a first volley of tracks in response to what he considers to be over-cooked, watered down, and hype-driven hardgroove. As an avid vinyl fanatic, Cloutier’s grooves are meticulously crafted from an almost infinite library of sonic source material stored somewhere in that noggin. Each track on “Perpetual Booty Grooves Vol. 1” is a masterful demonstration of layering, mixing, and arrangement that only a veteran producer with decades of experience can accomplish.
Pulling no punches, “PBG001” dives headfirst into a deep, hazy, hypnotic groove. Cloutier carefully layers loops of percs, cowbells, and cymbals around a thumping kick drum and syncopated bass, sparsely punctuated by an organ stab hard panned on the left.
The second track, “PBG002,” also gets off to a strong start with an impeccable groove, serpentine sub bass line, gently swelling pads, and dubby chords bouncing around like some kind of fission byproduct. Cloutier achieves peak groove status on “PBG003,” featuring an absolutely infectious rhythm section, a sample of the instantly recognizable “Jack Your Body” by Steve “Silk” Hurley’s, and a chord stab drenched in reverb that filters and decays back into the dark depths beyond the stacks and strobes.
If the title and sequential track numbering are any hint, then it should be no surprise that this EP is intended as the first of two installments to the series of “Perpetual Booty Grooves”. Even if the series comes to an unfortunate and untimely end after just two releases, these tracks are fresh yet nostalgic in a way that few producers can encapsulate authentically, not just ironically or humorously.
Bonus to any diehards out there looking to cop the vinyl: all three cuts end in perfectly locked grooves ∞
Long live the booty grooves.
-Alex Dahm
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.
