Spaniard Orbe returns to Token under his first solo outing on the Belgian imprint with a set of dreamy, psychedelic, atmospheric warehouse-ready cuts.
In a year that has seen Token embrace a more sober, in your face sound with PTTRN and Truncate releases, it seems like Token is getting back to their bread and butter sound with Orbe’s well crafted atmospheres. Token has great success with Inigo Kennedy’s massive tracks that peel away the small walls of the club setting. Token is pursuing that sound once again with Orbe here, and has satisfied expectations and continued with a concept it has been known for. Reaching in your record box or tapping the Labels tab in your rekordbox and seeing Token, you know what’s going on in an instant. Not to fault Token in their quest for variety.. and I really dug the latest offerings, but I fear change [slow mug to audience], and it’s really hard to say that any other techno label out there at this level is pushing this sort of sound.
This release for Orbe feels like a progression as well.. differentiating on notably Detroit themes in “Hubble Space Telescope” in 2016 to the Midwest minimalist techno swimming in psychonaut reverb concepts in the 2020 Orbe album “Psy Visionary,” it seems like Orbe has embraced the Iberian techno sound and double dipped it into the outer space psychedelic world that Orbe has been cultivating, and only slightly tipped in favor of blending it into the Token Catalog. It seems like the “Transhuman EP” is a marriage of ideas that happened at the right time for both label and artist.
First track “FM-2030,” with its synth heavy dissonant carry leveling the track, brings on a big paranoia vibe but is also quite sci-fi. Dare say that there’s a tip of the hat here to Jeff Mills’ sci-fi and interplanetary ideas. There’s lots of really great atmospheric bits here and the attention to a very calming presence within the sound design makes it so that the heavy paranoia synth is not overwhelming. The consonance of the drums and elements here among the dissonance is the idea that creates tension and I’m fairly sure this is kind of a novel concept in techno.. It’s definitely worthy of note musically, especially since it’s that tension between the two that makes the track danceable, and not the obvious umtiss and groove elements that are bog standard in all of electronic music. High marks on techno theory here.
The title track “Transhuman EP” embraces a lot of LFO movement and jiggle to most of the elements that it kind of reminds you of, well every time you couldn’t make your eyes focus on an object at a party while turning your tongue into chewing gum. The tinnitus inducing high end is also just the frequency for those times as well, and the fascinating high end bits are great ornaments to latch onto and find something to love and appreciate about each of them. Not much progression here as far as big builds or slamming techno, but as for pure ear candy, it’s highly successful. As a loop or a blend, it will fit in well into a set.
“Extropy” hints that concept wise it is pulling you out of yourself and your present world to travel to distant worlds and, thematically it’s pursuant of the sci fi aesthetic that Orbe really does well. The choice of the notes in the synths with a lot of suspensions, really makes this happen and pulls the track forward thematically. Even the visiting high hats seem like they are beckoning you to come with them or have just been teleported to another world entirely with a really classy fade effect. Again there’s massive sound design skills here from the Orbe and it’s really the details where you can hear him play.
“Posthuman Being” can be most accurately described as, “what dat phaser do?” Heavy phaser modulation, auto filtering, and tremolo on the elements here really provide a funk and psychedelic chewy vibe. Where some producers and dancers would lose it with all the LFO interplay.. somehow Orbe really keeps it together and manages to build tension in the track. Personally, it’s really nice to hear someone being bold with that LFO in techno.. since the propensity for heavy LFO use really becomes a distraction from anything hypnotic in music. The experimental use of the modulation in this track while keeping it hypnotic is really difficult and something new concept wise. -Something I haven’t heard since Ken Ishii’s treatise on modulation in “Jelly Tones.” But where Ishii was subtle in his use, Orbe is overt. The way it changes provides something to focus on while the rest of the track slips under the radar, and you’re propelled forward by tension building elements.
Transhuman EP is definitely worth a full purchase preorder, especially if you’re on the fence and merely head nodding at the preview track. That is because conceptually, as well as in a sense of creative execution, and even the playing with the concepts of techno music theory, this is really well done. Add to that, Orbe is still present stylistically and fits well into the philosophy of the Token aesthetic. Love to see it, and I’m looking forward to spinning the vinyl after the release in September. Tops release for both Token and Orbe.
-Sean Ocean
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