Alessan Main: El Bruto EP
Konzentrisch Music

Konzentrisch Music's second release comes from DJ-producer Alessan Main, aka Cristian Alexander Soto López who entered the world in 1991 in the Chilean city of Coihaique, runs the Amethyp Music label, and cites figures such as Alex Niggemann, Loco Dice, Marco Carola, Matthias Tanzmann, and Luciano as influences. Main himself is represented by two originals, with the EP rounded out by remixes by Hitch (Eduard Clarà) and Maertz (Konzentrisch Music label owner Mark Maertz).

Main's first original “El Bruto” is a real thing of beauty, an eight-minute stormer whose crisp 4/4 receives a distinguishing boost from a catchy wooden flute sample. Its club qualities are solidly accounted for in the grooving bass rumble, claps, and driving pulse, but López elevates the track by extending its reach into a more evocative realm through the addition of exotic touches, be it the flute or voiceover. Hitch contributes two remixes of the track to the release, the first a hard-grooving affair that dispenses with the flute sample to instead concentrate almost exclusively on the tune's muscular bottom end, and the second “dub” mix a stripped-back version powered by a slinky hi-hat pattern and a bass line that's as thunderous as it is bone-dry. Main's “Intelligent” is strong, too, a jamming swinger that's more clap-happy than the other original but just as forceful, and colourful also in its array of sonic detail, percussive and otherwise. In his makeover, Maertz arguably improves on “Intelligent” by injecting it with a feverish deep house vibe and adding a funky bass line that gives the original an undeniably powerful kick.

February 2013