Available on: Citinite 12″ EP
Whether it’s Dam-Funk, Dorian Concept or Kyle Hall freestyling in his school’s stairwell, it’s hardly controversial to suggest that there’s been a return in dance music – or certain corners of it at least – to analogue synthesizer jams as the centerpiece of tracks. But rarely are they as unashamed and upfront as on The Last Time, a new six-track EP for Citinite by Gosub, a longtime Miami electro producer who runs the Isophlux label.
The Last Time frequently contrasts the simplicity of its song’s structures with the complicity of its virtuoso synths – on ‘Eyes of Nimrud’, the synthlines snake around corners like a game of Wipeout, disguising the subtle changes in tone and ebbing melodies in the track’s backdrop. It works here, but on ‘Keep it Raw’, which uses a very similar, albeit slower synth lead, it starts to grate. ‘Nimrud’ has just enough going on beyond the lead jam to cope; ‘Raw’ not quite enough.
‘The Last Time I Saw You’ is much more realised, with those right angled melodies tunneling through, rather than over, slower waves of city strip electro. ‘Towards your Middle’, like ‘Keep it Raw’ maybe doesn’t have enough going on to keep it interesting, though at three minutes’ length it’s hardly a slog. Generally this EP is best when its most maximal, though opening track ‘The Broadcast’ is an exception with its sleazy vocal commentary and switch-blade percussion.
Still, even if The Last Time isn’t all great, it’s nice when things click into place, and considering Gosub’s been pushing his brand of skyway funk for the best part of a decade, it’s refreshing to see that at his best he’s still able to kick new pretenders into touch.
Tam Gunn
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marshall
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hotparty