Having provided us with 4 free VA releases so far, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Variance crew would prepare a hot, fresh plate of free tracks to give away—particularly on an occasion such as Christmas. A total of five fine and devoted artists have threw into the proverbial hat with a "Name your price" tag on it, and we're about to take the gifts out one by one and take a closer look at them in a detailed and somewhat organized manner.

    Assigned with opening up is a Frenchman who goes by the cute name Blurred Boy, but as you should already know from his Variance-published Reward LP, this name has much in a way of contradiction: Not Halfway There is a syncopated, 131 BPM-paced piece of production that makes use of subdued, volumetric kicks, linearly-arranged, closed hats, velvety hisses, melancholy-evocative pads and one non-intrusive, but very memorable, subtly distorted bassline loop which effectively sticks to the eardrum and stays there 'till the day's end. While the pair of New Zelanders known as Duo Alias (who also delivered an LP for Variance in 2017) slows down to 126 BPM, their dense effort Bastard !!! by no means drops the ball in regards to energy levels which they maintain by employing bouncy kicks to perform banging duties aside the right-channel leaning, radicalised, abrasive pads, clicky hats that run in quadruple speed, stabs that effectively mimic cracks of a whip, and wildly roaring, acidic droning that renders the spectrum almost impenetrable. Right then, the release takes a different direction in tone as France-based Krÿst introduces Pokkacr, a 134-BPM piece which heavily resembles trance works from and before the 00's—no matter what genre you prefer, if you are older than 20, chances are that you will recognize the vocal sample instantly but won't be able to tell when or where you have heard it the first time, it's a series words that have been used in music almost as commonly as the amen break, because, well, they instantly put the listener in a particular kind of mood; classic acid arpeggios and build ups, open hats, stiff kicks and the right amount of oscillating, drony pads—it's an oldschool number at heart. Taking no days off from being Ireland's primary go-to in the matters of techno, Luke Creed once again puts on the moniker Scenedrone and makes a cameo on his label, providing us with a somewhat Lazy Grind—a laid-back, atonal track running at 127 BPM, defined best as inoppressive, hypnagogic electronics in the vein not dissimilar to dub techno: low-range-bass accentuated, deeply and cozily low-seated toms, half-bar shifted, clonking hats, chiming, stretching bell pads with occasional incorporation of soft, paired claps and muffled, distant synths. Last but by no means least we have Swardz (also from Ireland, what a coincidence) getting in cahoots with one Eve—more precisely, sampling her gangster-rap-themed vocals and locking them into a few poignant loops which will be running against acid-enforced, stubbornly straight kicks, hissing hats that roll in three, soft claps and noise; in a nutshell, Evening Bitches is a 130 BPM, hip-hop x techno crossover which could potentially gain huge props should it get introduced to a hoods-stationed populace.

Release Type: VA / EP

Release Date: 24 December 2017

Release Format: Digital

Record Label • Catalog: Variance • VARXVA

Purchase Links: Bandcamp