Frenchman Antoine Husson, AKA Electric Rescue, returns to KR/LF with a 12 tracker of blue sea-inspired Techno on “Frontier of the Sea” that’s guaranteed to be an album you’ll listen to again and again.
If you’ve been following Electric Rescue, then you’ll know he’s been everywhere from Cocoon, to Bedrock, to even on his own Skryptöm Records. He also got a kick start way back in 2005 by landing on Laurent Garnier’s affiliate F… U! FCOM! label. Safe to say, Electric Rescue has been around the block and to that credit, his sound is well polished and comes from a deeply knowledgeable place. When we look at a collection of music like this album, you can’t help but be drawn in… and what is more, the further you listen, the more it grows on you.
It’s weird to say that in 2024, we’re no longer making albums that can stand up to the test of time and repeated listens—with the notable exception being Damon Wild’s newest release “Pleasure Builder”. Possibly, it comes from the point of view that music doesn’t have to just be expendable and is nothing short of DJ fodder or a calling card so you can tour as a DJ. A well-thought-out Techno album is kind of a rare commodity, and even more so, something that you actually want to dial in and come back to is like trying to find rocking horse manure in the wild.
What makes this “Frontier of the Sea” album so suitable for repeated listens is really held within the layers of ideas. A lot of the tracks have a density that just cannot be appreciated right off the bat. Some Techno heads may turn their nose up at the breakbeats of “La Houle”, and then have the epiphany that they were actually wrong about that track, and that there’s lots of gold found in each little corner of the album to explore. From the uneasy synth line of “Vectoron” to the haunting lines of the ending synths in “Esquisses Brûlées” meeting the tough and heavy Techno beats underneath. Or possibly, you just weren’t really listening to “Unrhythmtripium” when the album started, but then you got your mind blown open when you realized it’s the very same synth in “Esquisses Brûlées”. But of course, there are some damn fine DJ tracks in here. Both “Marcanterre” and “Trek” will blow the doors off your DJ set. But also safe to say “La Bouvaque” will get all the top lockers on the floor.
What really defines the album, despite it being the namesake of the release, is the title track “Frontier of the Sea.” Just a very pure and heartfelt track that matches a love for the music with devastatingly effective production. Husson goes all in for the classic and well-crafted sound that has him going straight off, and you’re with him the whole time up until the last 18 seconds of the album when it’s not exactly clear if you’ll headbang your head clean off.
There seems to be no shortage of little corners within the music where you can hear a craftsman’s hand behind a beat or a little sound design trick within a synth. To the uninitiated, the album might sound just like a cool selection of tracks that are groovy and head nodding with a somewhat nautical theme, but the more you get into it, the more you grow to appreciate what effort has been put into the music.
-Sean Ocean
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.
