3VS: Red Sun Drive EP
none60
Expanding on none60's recent singles focus, Red Sun Drive features four productions by 3VS, a new collaborative trio comprising Akuratyde (Southern Californian Daniel Eshleman), Monika (UK-born, New Zealand-based Maxwell Sweeney), and Hobart, Australia-based producer Tellus. With all having issued solo material on labels such as Blu Mar Ten, Soulvent, Regression Media, and Context Audio, the three bring well-honed skill sets to the endeavour, not to mention ideas and imagination aplenty.
“Prescient” establishes the template with a thrusting, claps-driven groove smothered in twinkling melodies and all manner of textural noise and swirl. Whatever connections the producers have to drum'n'bass, the four tracks cover a wide range during their twenty-two minutes, with IDM, industrial, dubstep, and ambient blending into ultra-atmospheric wholes. More powerful yet is the title track, which works a halftime swing into its grime-encrusted throb-and-grind, though an argument could be made that “Auto-Artificial,” which unspools with relentless, machine-like precision, is even more epic, especially when its groove's punctuated by an anvil strike. At EP's end, “Spoken” sprinkles synthesizer sparkle and even, briefly, a chiming guitar figure across a rolling, cymbals-accented pulse, the capper a heady mix of IDM and drum'n'bass. True to none60 form, 3VS's material is polished but also gritty, teeming as it is with crisp beats, massive bass pulses, and expansive sound design.April 2020