Yann Van Uffelen a.k.a. Absent had been operating under the proverbial shadows for over a decade, producing techno works intended solely for his own DJ sets which he has been playing in his homeland of Belgium. This has changed some time in 2012, when his first collaborative release was published on Damage Music Berlin. Several years later, with a few solo EPs released on Modular Expansion Records, Belief System and Stahlplatten, he opens up his own imprint and brands it R-U-Wired Records. Genesis EP is a second release on the label - the one we're going to talk about, and judging from what we've heard so far, the label's future looks promising.

    It starts with The Drumz - driving piece at 130 BPM, with unyielding 4/4 kick drums supported by mid-low range bassline revolving at double speed, an intensifying, alienated minor key oscillation in the middle, sandy bands at 4/4 and 16/16, interestingly shaped, syncopated claps, and three sets of open 4/4 hats, each of which slowly rises above the other in a successive manner, competing over dominance for the foreground. In Purpose Maker, which speeds up to 132 BPM in tempo, percussion gets the similar treatment - 4/4 kicks are thumping relentlessly while the multiple open 4/4 hats slowly outgain each other; we're introduced an element which adds a tribal touch to the composition - left-channel-leaning, lively hand drums that run all through the track, alongside reverberated 2/4 claps that appear in the second half and seldom, warmly-toned pads. Black Coffee elevates a further BPM point and greets us with moderately distorted shakers running half-bar away from hefty 4/4 kicks and uncannily bleeping stabs that bring to mind a space ship, whose control panel alarms us either of low fuel levels or incoming missiles - either way, it sounds life-threatening; while that goes on, the other elements appear - primarily it's the stretched-out 4/8 stabs that keep pitching up and down, an oscillating droning signal - barely audible but highly stressful, open 4/4 hats which change the playback sample every so often and after the first minute unite forces with another layer of 16/16 hats and panning, reverberated bands that are running in three every bar.

Release Type: EP

Release Date: 29 December 2016

Release Format: Digital

Record Label ● Catalog: R-U-Wired Records ● RUW002

Purchase Links: Bandcamp