Alex Under: Dispositivos de mi Granja
Trapez

Madrid producer and CMYK label head Alex Under's tracks largely hew to a restrained dynamic range throughout, making it easy to underappreciate the craft he brings to his Trapez album debut Dispositivos de mi Granja. A closer listen, however, reveals that Under's graceful house-minimal techno-trance hybrid is definitely major league material, even if occasional echoes of Daniel Bell, Richie Hawtin, Akufen, and Oliver Hacke surface during the disc's seventy-minute run. Trippy voice stutters and owly synth motifs recur throughout the set's pinprick tech-house (“El Ganado Ovino Blanco”), techno boogie (“Balas de Paja Maja”), and pumping jazz-house (“ El Ordeñador Personal”). Listen especially for “ Las Bicicletas son para el Verano (O No Edit),” an infectious monster of sliced voice croaks and tech-house grooves, and the trance epic “Vacarneroveja” where plinkety-plink pianos collide with gleaming slow-motion melodies; at its pinnacle, the song is so glorious you'll wish it would go on forever.

February 2006