Bleep

London based creative Richard Smith gained notoriety last year when he provided the inaugural release for the Optimo Trax series. M Is A Shape is his first release for Ecstatic Recordings and it works well as a signpost to where Smith exists in the vista of electronic music. Fusing Berghain-standard drum patterns with abrasive EBM fuzz, the record might only be 8 tracks long but it piles in a weight of influences and new ideas. The floor-ready hi-hats of Sun Shape contrast hugely with the dream-like arpeggiations of closer 2040_0305 but it is this very dichotomy that makes M Is A Shape a record worth giving time to.