Now residing in Germany, Spain’s Falling Ethics champion P.E.A.R.L. returns to Rotterdam’s Tar Hallow imprint for a set of tracks that exemplify the label’s current passion for stripped-back, drum-focused sounds that exude strong rhythmic timing and rigid grooves.
If you’ve been following the Tar Hallow imprint, you might’ve noticed that a great deal of their releases focus on this idea of techno that’s not terribly aggressive, minimal in nature, but also not entirely filled with negative space, and also drum-based tracks that are solid with a sense of atmosphere and rhythm synth support.
For example, if you take the release “Tar 33” with Pylot, the re-release has a load of simple and easygoing middle-of-the-road tracks. More or less, there’s an undercurrent that holds the release together that’s not overstated but more or less felt. In Pylot’s release, we feel a musician who has a deep connection to the rhythmic timing of the instruments. Pylot creates what is known as a drummer’s “pocket” where all the elements sit tight and locked in with this tight groove that flows so easily.
Here too, on P.E.A.R.L.’s release, this is the main concept at work. Rhythmic interaction and the feel of the elements as they come in and out are crucial to the success of this latest EP release, “Time Tension”. Though in P.E.A.R.L.’s case, as opposed to Pylot’s example, instead of creating a sense of ease, P.E.A.R.L. decides to hold up a little bit of suspense and expectation before each note lands. For some people, it’s somewhat evident they can’t understand groove theory, nor do they have an innate sense of drum timing. Often, they are just completely unaware of the significance and importance of swing or even what a dotted note is for… but that is certainly not the case for P.E.A.R.L.
The unease and resetting of the beat constantly in “Machinations” is tight, robotic, yet each note leads to the next with a delicate push-and-pull that’s never overbearing while still setting up your standard tension-and-release in the elements. The “Punto Returno” mixes rely mainly on the bass interaction to set up the odd call-and-response pattern that is just slightly offset. So it comes late where the claps on the down beats reinforce precision and rigidity. The main title track, “Time Tension,” also carries the idea of interesting rhythmic timing to a place that feels slightly unsettling but always helps you come back to a place of reference. Those off-kilter toms just keep grinding over the top of the kick and hat, then every so often, you’re brought back to a familiar frame of reference by a shimmering high hat line or a fill that sets up the downbeat of the kick to start the whole process over again.
Will this EP change the world? Will it make you throw away your Kylie Minogue collection (finally)? Will it make you scour endlessly for arcane techno by Si Begg, Cristian Vogel, Neil Landstrumm, or Tobias Schmidt in hopes of finding some /real/ genuine solace within the world? Probably not… but what’s being said here is something different than what a majority of other people have been saying.
There’s been a different look at micro-timing in the past few years, since the Elektron machines and Maschine hardware are ace at nailing and dialing in discreet timing shifts. Some artists are looking at these ticks of timing as a new twist to do things that are funky in a very precise way, or to dial in a feeling that is tight and secure, but a fundamentally different way to express movement and groove theory on the dance floor. That alone is something that should be celebrated and recognized.
-Sean Ocean
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