teshno

aaron ‘fit’ sigel’s last release on fxhe was/is one of the year’s biggest underground hits. the smooth-rolling r&b banger that is ‘tonite’, though, doesn’t strike you as the sort of thing that would bring gunnar wendel bka kassem mosse calling for a collab. but, for whatever reason, it was, and the two have combined forces for a new three tracker that sees them each exhibit their own sonic traits without sacrificing any overall oomph.

the whole of the a1 is given over to ‘enter the fog’, a dark and crackly (though whether that’s by design or a product of fxhe’s generally not amazing mastering is hard to tell) deep house track that’s as brash and brooding as it is beguiling and beautiful. it’s a contrast of surfaces from start to finish: rubbery, pinging kick drums next to sandy hi hats and coarse claps with a crunchy 8 bit melody laced through the top of the mix. like everything here, it’s roughshod and raw in a way that sounds physically battered.

‘roll out’ on the flip has the same snaking, shimmering percussive lines running above hunched over beats, and again they are the backdrop for the track’s centrepiece: another heart tugging siegel melody that bubbles in the foreground and ripples in the backdrop with a crystalline sparkle amidst the oppressive humidity and denseness all around it. to close out a triptych of standout productions, mosse lays out another of his trademark slinky, dusty hi hat lines and juggles heavy house beats in and out of the picture as only he can: essential stuff.

listen to, then buy it, at juno | fan up at facebook.com/teshno

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