Bleep

The latest curatorial effort in the DJ Kicks series comes from Darren Cunningham as Actress: the South London techno visionary has put together a 1 hour mix tracing electronic music’s 90s legacy, leading up to conceptual synth music as well as foreboding grime and its contemporaries. His exclusive contribution, ‘Bird Matrix’, layers atmospherically unfolding synths over one of his trademark breathing beats. The BPMs of the mix flow as organically as possible, and apart from displaying some of the most exciting bits of the current label landscape, the cross- and back-referencing to older productions works really well too. The Detroit vibes of Chez-N Trent's 'Windy City Club' (1993), the ambient synth pads of John Beltran’s ‘Anticipation’ (1995) and Gherkin Jerks’ deep house from 1990 blend in beautifully next to Hank Jackson’s cooking utensils techno, Lorenzo Senni’s cinematic synth instrumentals, Diagonal’s Shit & Shine or PAN’s Beneath. Actress makes them seem like parts of a logical trajectory, even if he’s put a fair bit of emphasis on "how well the track titles work together in a poetic sense”. Too elegant, and never tiring - that’s all there’s left to say.