Jakarta’s Ecilo returns to the Indonesian imprint Underradar Records with a set of dope, classy, and funky cuts for your party playlist.
What makes this release stand out? Well, there’s certainly this lovely funky bounce to all the tracks that really puts in work to make this a truly floor filling EP. Every track has head-nodding and focused energy driving the track forward. Unlike the low-end bass, here the upper mid-bass sits atop the rest of the track.
This sort of foundation leads to different ideas of experimentation as to where to go. “Spy United” takes the upper mid-bass and concentrates on a plucked bass sound. “Silent Assault” uses the acid mono synth concept (think SH101 or MC202 rather than TB303) and uses that energy to really set up the aforementioned funky bounce motif.
Where the upper mid-bass is the main idea in the previous tracks, the closing sister tracks on the EP, ”Phantom Vision” and “Collateral Soul,” use this as a foundation for what seems like a randomized arpeggiator setting that is properly filtered and tweaked live. “Phantom” being the dope and setting an aggressive and serious tone, and “Collateral Soul” taking that heavy feeling and turning it on its ear with bright and uplifting chords, possibly using a harmonizer to impressive effect.
If you’re looking to rock a party, you’ve got an EP here that has a solid working pair of grooving tracks for layering, or a B-side with floor-filler tracks to suit the mood of any dance floor. Or if you have no gigs and are just a techno nerd punter, it will certainly be on rotation in your earbuds, for now and throughout this new year.
-Sean Ocean
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