Bleep

For the best part of 30 years, DMX Krew has merited a genre all his own. While his complex interplay of hardware technique and voracious techno celebrations might fall within the confines of dancefloor ammunition, he’s a producer adept at delivering surprises. Such was the case on his unbeatable run of releases on Rephlex Records and Terrestrial Funk. With Loose Gears, the self-styled “house husband, record producer” returns for his fourth outing on UK scene mainstay Hypercolour — and naturally, this set of tracks slap.

But, being the mean future-facing work that it is, Loose Gears is anything but straightforward in its deployment of grooves. DMX exercises his electro muscles across its runtime, especially where cuts like ‘Torpedo Tube’ and ‘Solar Transit’ are concerned, peppering his unstoppable momentum with handclaps and a host of synthesised playfulness, all bathed in a rave warehouse atmosphere. ‘Unconnected’, on the other hand, sees the producer breaking with any kind of immediately graspable 4/4 motion altogether, as multitudes of beats shower over space-aged synths. His rhythmic adventurousness reaches a high point with ‘Imaginary Beat’, a joint which upends acid conventions by soaking the mix in discordant percussion.

Loose Gears is another work of unrivalled electro perfection from DMX Krew, and we wouldn’t expect any less.