Articles
2013 Top 10s & 20s
The Knells' The Knells
Spotlight 11

Albums
John Luther Adams
Arovane
Astro Sonic
Avatism
Cakewalk
Mark Cetilia
Ulises Conti
Stephen Cornford
Exercise One
Stavros Gasparatos
Huntsville
itsnotyouitsme
Rael Jones
Jubei
The Knells
Letna
Lord Echo
Selaxon Lutberg
Martin & Berg
Josh Mason
Mem1
Ron Morelli
Nuage
Oiseaux-Tempête
One Far West
Orange Yellow Red
Piano Interrupted
Oleg Poliakov
Recondite
Saffronkeira + Massa
Scarlet Youth
Shifted
Silencio
Burkhard Stangl
Talvihorros
Peter Van Hoesen
Vatican Shadow

Compilations / Mixes
EPM Selected Vol. 2
My Love For You Is Analog.
OFF To ADE 2013
Scope
Tempo Dreams Vol. 2
Transit 2

EPs / Cassettes / Singles
Dalot
Elika
Fighting Lion
Kyle Fosburgh
Fre4knc / Nuage
Rezo Glonti
Halvtrak
Ishan Sound
Jacksonville
Lullatone
Pennygiles & Phil Tangent
Dominic Petrie
Response
Sontag Shogun
Strategy
Thrash Pilot

Halvtrak: Dust Under Bridges EP
Don't Be Afraid

The debut EP from Halvtrak finds the Finland producer riffing on Chicago house in a bold and exuberant manner in four five-minute tracks for Don't Be Afraid. Not much info is available about Halvtrak or his background, so we'll just have to make do with the tunes, which are a solid enough bunch.

The opening cut, “Finding Yourself,” works up a solid bounce in its tick-tock percussive rhythms and wiry synthesizer burblings. Halvtrak brings an imaginative twist to the tune in shifting away from its Chicago house-flavoured beginnings into something that in isolated moments resembles a glittering soul-funk throwdown. “A Thousand Years” adds a few more surprises to the set by threading into its jittery, acid-inflected strut traces of opium-scented flute and string melodies, while “Barracuda” (not a cover of the Heart classic) digs into some serious low-end rumble when it's not soaking itself in an acid bath of its own making.

If Halvtrak hardly rewrites any house or techno rule-books with Dust Under Bridges, the club-centric release certainly offers a credible enough riff on the genres, and the material's textural detail and multi-layered design show that the producer definitely has a flair for melody and track construction.

December 2013