Max Gardner leads the charge with debut release “This is a Test” EP from his own West Coast techno label, Peer, with remix support from Drumcell and Insolate. Meanwhile, the Peer label is set to blaze a new trail for North American Techno and give recognition to a burgeoning local and national scene.
There’s a lot to be excited about for Peer and what Max Gardner (Oakland), Cory Simpson (Seattle), and Sean Raya (LA) have set out to accomplish for the label. Since the start of the pandemic, a lot of international artists have been hitched up at the border, causing a lot of promoters stateside to look to the national US scene for talent. This sea change is a recognition that talent in our own backyard has always been great, and in some cases, even better than what was imported from international waters. To have Peer step up like this means that the label isn’t afraid to acknowledge this fact, and furthermore, it gives a voice to truly talented artists who’ve been chronically overshadowed in the past.
Max Gardner presents three originals across “This is a Test” EP, including solid remixes by Insolate and Drumcell. No stranger to building an original sound, Drumcell has tempered his sound on this EP to be a full representation of his personal style, which has also represented the LA techno scene on the world stage for decades. Also a solid choice for this EP, Insolate is a great ambassador to her growing community of internationally acclaimed artists out of the Balkan region for more than 20 years. Gardner’s original tracks make a solid impact for a young producer beginning to find a consistent vibe and strong set of aesthetics that continues to amaze each time he puts out original work.
The first track, “Clamor”, is quite dissociative, bringing in many elements with subtlety. Gardner carefully introduces new elements in a hidden way or uses other elements to grab your attention while slipping in new elements under the radar. The use of masking and compression in some cases really goes a long way to nesting elements together so they pop out in unexpected ways. There’s a lot going on that you cannot latch on to anything in particular, so naturally your brain just gives up, and you succumb to the sounds floating around you as they carry you away.
The next track, “For Realness”, starts off with a delayed filter sweep and chorded synth guided by a hot drum track with swinging 909-style hats and slamming, Chicago hard house-meets-downbeat crunchy kicks. The progression of the track comes from the improvised sweeps of the chorded elements, chaotic leaping synths, and “realness” vocal sample. All of which cool off when the progression strips back to its driving elements near the end of the track. What keeps it real is that things are not overly processed and pretty much raw, giving a more detailed appreciation for what the elements are individually.
Insolate’s Remix of “For Realness” takes the hot drum track, condensing and EQing it down. To match this, her remix focuses on taking the whole track to the most driving parts and holds the pace steady and firm throughout, while the vocal sample becomes an ambient layer in which the track sits. The drama of the track comes from Max Gardner’s wild chaotic synth that’s the tension before coming back stripped and pressed, for which Insolate’s deft hand refuses to let you go.
Returning to Max Gardner’s original material, “This is a Test” massively seems to signify the various synths interplaying against each other overhead. Gardner is testing out synth interaction and textures within those synths. The role of the synths also seem to be a similar effect to “Clamor”, providing information overload for your brain to latch on to so the dissociation is easy.
Drumcell’s Remix of “This is a Test” exhibits a masterful use of restrained bass and kick structure as he takes bits of the dizzying synth’s in Max’s original and chops them down to fit his straight lines and overt sense of control. Even the air raid siren in the original is bent to his will following a straighter pitch. Drumcell’s experience as a remixer informs his choices and without hesitation, he employs the most effective use for each sound given to him without taking too many liberties to completely make the track something else entirely. Even still, Drumcell takes something that’s entirely different to his work and knows his own voice well enough to make his style come across stern and strong.
“This is a Test” EP makes for a superb debut release for Peer to start off on the right foot. The EP has already been gaining massive attention and landing into the virtual crates of DJs playing worldwide. Hopefully, the message comes across that even though “This is a Test” is an experiment, it should have staying power for the North American techno scene, providing a glimpse of what is out there as the national scene continues to build.
-Sean Ocean
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