Articles
Death Blues
Questionnaire II

Albums
36
Daniel Bachman
Blevin Blectum
Ulises Conti
Ian William Craig
Dakota Suite & Sirjacq
Death Blues
Yair Etziony
Fade
Hammock
Imagho & Mocke
Kassel Jaeger
John Kannenberg
Martin Kay
Kein
Kontakt der Jünglinge
Akira Kosemura
Land Observations
Klara Lewis
Oliver Lieb
Lightfoils
Machinefabriek
Nikkfurie of La Caution
Pitre and Allen
Pjusk
Michael Robinson
Sawako
Seasurfer
Slow Dancing Society
Tender Games
Tirey / Weathers
Tohpati
Tokyo Prose
The Void Of Expansion
wild Up
Yodok III
Russ Young

Compilations / Mixes
Dessous Sum. Grooves 2
Silence Was Warm Vol. 5
Under The Influence Vol. 4

EPs / Cassettes / Mini-Albums / Singles
Belle Arché Lou
Blind EP3
Blocks and Escher
Dabs
DBR UK
Fracture
Sunny Graves
Ligovskoï
Mako
Paradox & Nucleus
Pye Corner Audio
Sawa & Kondo
Slpwlkr
Swoon
Toys in The Well
Versa
Marshall Watson

Fracture: Loving Touch EP
Exit Records

Fracture—Astrophonica label runner (home to artists such as Machinedrum and Om Unit) whose music has appeared on Goldie's Metalheadz and dBridge's Exit Records—makes good on the promise of the earlier Get Busy with another Exit Records release. It hardly surprises that of the four cuts on his latest EP (vinyl and digital), it's “Loving Touch” that was selected for its title. But don't get the wrong idea: though it is an undeniable stormer, the others also have much to recommend them, especially when they explore different sides of the Fracture equation.

“Loving Touch” dynamically funks up Ralphi Rosario and Xavier Gold's early Chicago classic “You Used to Hold Me” by undergirding its belting soul vocalizing with a pulverizing breakbeat-inflected groove and a lethal bass wobble. Fracture changes things up so rapidly on this five-minute stunner, the listener can't help but be dazzled by the invention on display. As dizzying is “Werk It,” which strips Fracture's sound down to a militant, jungle-tinged throwdown packed with claps, martial snares, and aggressive vocal declamations. A collaboration with Sam Binga produced at his Bristol studio, “Grippin' Grain” strips things down again, this time to an 808-laden workout whose sci-fi hyperactivity never lets up for a moment. In one final surprise, the funky outro “Overload” could almost pass for a Dilla collaboration, given the subtle headnod feel that seeps into its bass-and-breakbeats flow, not to mention the Donuts-styled siren that repeatedly snakes across the tune's surfaces.

Throughout the EP, Fracture demonstrates a remarkable talent for track construction and an intuitive gift for sequencing elements into mesmerizing wholes. “Loving Touch” might be the prime cut of the four, but it's hardly the only memorable moment on the eighteen-minute set.

August-September 2014