Following on from FaltyDL’s excellent, house-tinged All In The Place EP, Rush Hour are now putting out a second bass-related twelve. Unsurprisingly given the label’s general output, Cosmin TRG’s contributions are similarly indebted to house music, eschewing the post-garage stutter of his early music but also taking an obviously different approach even to his recent Tempa double pack. That release, Now You Know, found him at a curious juncture in his sound. Neither entirely divorced from the austere Hessle Audio-isms of his earliest music nor fully embracing a ruder dancefloor edge; it was intriguing but ultimately an unbalanced experience.
The two tracks on his Rush Hour 12” further refine the smooth technofied edges he began to explore on ‘Since Last Night’ and ‘Purple Lights,’ flitting smoothly between four-to-the-floor house manoeuvres and soca-style funky percussion. Yet despite their smoother and more coherent feel neither quite manages to reconcile the two sides of his sound, leaving an unresolved tension hanging in the air throughout. ‘Groove Control’ is almost intimidating in its forward momentum, as heavily swung drums open up gaps for fractionally short periods before closing them again. Throughout the track its pulse is offset by Detroit-ish burbling synths, a trait shared with B-side ‘Seeing Other People’. Initially the less confusing of the two, its lopsided vocals and heady pulse gradually wear down the thin border between dancefloor and mind material, making it tough to resolve its questionable motives. Nonetheless, both tracks are immersive listens in their own right and go some way – if not the entire distance - towards answering the riddles posed by CosminTRG’s last release.
Words: Rory Gibb
Out: Now
Link:
www.myspace.com/trgproductions
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