Roska: Error Code / Abrupt (Hotflush Recordings)
Roska: Jackpot (Rinse)
Wayne Goodlitt’s two EPs released over the last many months are both tightly crafted. His latest for Scuba’s Hotflush is a nice shimmering funky number, brimming with energy. Its companion track “Abrupt” is built around a stuttering vocal sample and a punchy, 130bpm range backing track. The vocal pattern reminds me of Villalobos’s “Panpot Spliff,” but the sound bridges the gap between funky and techno, bringing it up to date. There’s not a consistent enough kick and the scattered rimshots that are peppered throughout the patterns drop it in line with the rest of the Hotflush post-dubstep-cum-whatever roster. The Jackpot EP is not so far off the same mark; Roska flaunts his affinity to syncopated, stabby sounds and repetitive patterns. So there is something very tracky about this stuff, as though it would feel most at home in a DJ set. “Blame the Speakers” is positively massive, a huge kick and rave-like synth lead powering it start to finish. But at other times he brings that angular sycopated riddim into the fore, like on the leading title track or, less obviously, on “4th Blind Mouse.” He touches on the UK funky sound on many of these cuts with springy leads and basslines, like “Roskallion” or “Leapfrog.” High energy but minimal, repetitious but propulsive — just about all of these cuts would be a nice diversion in a DJ set almost regardless of style.
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