Everything is going in circles, folks. Japanese techno prodigy Hiroaki Iizuka returns to THEM - UK-based label whose catalog he kicked off not so long ago - in 2014... Hold on one second, is it THEM, THEM Records or Them Recordings? We're not sure, the witnesses' accounts are divided on this one (the witnesses being the digital stores in this analogy). But let's not bother ourselves with these details, and instead pay attention to THOSE details - the details of release.

    Instantly captivating 130 BPM opener Module saves no place for cheesy ambient intros and right away introduces a hefty, syncopated drum pattern that runs in accelerating-and-halting manner which circulates every 4 bars; it is soon joined by coagulating washes of soft noise, left-channel-leaning 16/16 bands, shifting arrangements of open hats and headspace-expanding minutia in form of craftily shaped, glitchy, metallic, scattering samples. While Voodoo maintains the tempo, it doesn't quite share the opener's predilection towards kick drum syncopation, instead utilizing 4/4; despite that, its garrison of additional percussion (except for two layers of open 4/4 hats) in form of tribal hand drums indeed run in their own, nonconformist time signatures, but one quality all the elements of the track share in common is abundant analog distortion. 127 BPM-paced Primitive Acid, as name suggests, utilizes a quick-and-dirty, albeit interestingly dichotomizing and more importantly, effective acid loop that runs all throughout the piece, two layers of indifferent stabs that are herded to occupy the space of the 4th bar, unevenly-arranged kicks that run in sets of four at the time span of first three bars, dry 1/4 claps, and abrasive 16/16 hats that seem inconsistent due to their gain jumping, but once listened closely, it becomes evident that they are, in fact, quite straight-shaped. Floating Point makes two for two in terms of keeping the tempo, but it significantly stands out from others thanks to its three-dimensional, "plunging" pads that seem to mimic stretched-out sound sample of an object being immersed into water; tonal 16/16 hats run their simple-structured path while the low-seated kicks and dry claps are, in turn, tribalistically syncopated, and the resonant, moving ambiance that they are contrasted against opens doors for some heart-reaching melancholy, truly breathing in a life into this composition.

    One other thing - if you haven't checked Waterworks' remix of Iizuka's track The Run, we urge you to stop whatever you're doing right now and go listen to it immediately. It's available for free at THEM's (THEIR?) Bandcamp page, and by God, it is astonishing.

Release Type: EP

Release Date: 2 December 2016

Release Format: Digital ● Vinyl

Record Label ● Catalog: THEM Records ● THEM005

Purchase Links: Beatport ● Junodownload ● Bandcamp ● Hardwax ● Deejay ● Triple Vision ● Unearthed ● Technique