xwd is here at college

ilovecopyleft:

DL Ripop by Samim & Michal

Minimal techno. One of the nerdiest forms of techno out there (and techno itself is already pretty nerdy), most of it feels perfectly suited to me for zoning out and letting my thoughts flow freely or getting lost in the computer. Subtle things, great for unconsciously moving to, fine for dancing if you can get into it. This is one of those tracks I have no problem getting into.

It starts off with this bassline that goes throughout the entire track. It’s infectious. It’s a simple rhythm, only two pitches, but it’s catchy. Really catchy. And then we’re introduced to the percussion before most of it cuts out to show the rest of the bassline and a barely coherent voice sample, before building everything back up slowly, reintroducing old rhythms and sounds along new ones. Breakdowns and build-ups are littered all over this track, either pay attention to the constant change in the parts present (it’s minimal techno, nice and clean, so you can hear them) or find yourself pleasantly surprised when the energy level suddenly changes.

It’s bleepy, it’s repetitive, but it gets me moving and doesn’t let me stop. It could just be the computer nerd in me responding to the digital sounds and rhythms, but I don’t care, I have fun with it. That’s probably due to some slight house influences, slight shuffle and whatnot, but the sheer mechanical nature of the song makes it feel much more like techno than house to me. Nine minutes is simultaneously too long and too short.

You can check out Ripop EP on the Internet Archive’s backup of most of Textone, which apparently used to be pretty big back when it was still around four or five years ago. Big enough that rest had to explicitly mention they don’t want to be big like them. Internet politics aside, what’s really important are the fun techno tracks. Textone has a few of those. (Thanks to mo. at Phlow for introducing me to this.)

I can’t tell if that voice sample that comes in at 2:00-ish is saying “just give up” or “just get up.” I don’t think it matters. BASS!