Download store Digital Tunes presents its second EP, Folding Spaces II, released through their niche Folding Spaces electronic label. Driven by a dedication to promoting artists on the underground, hardware-inspired House and Techno scenes, this second release continues the label’s opus of Techno non-locality by weaving a musical thread through Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Leeds, California and London...

Contributors for this second release in the series, include Shcuro, the moniker of João Ervedosa, who, along with creating the artwork for the release, is one of Lisbon’s strongest new proponents of dark, trippy Techno. Also credited are Italy’s Punknown, aka Orazio Bongiovanni, Swiss producer Lucas Delmenico (4-5 AM-PM), who creates rich digital realms traversed by strong, rave-inspired rhythm sections, and California’s Worker/Parasite, who provide a skeletal collaboration with Leeds-based Techno improv master Chrononautz.

Listening to this EP I couldn't help questioning whether the chill-out techno/dance scene was really so stagnant that everything has stayed pretty much unchanged for decades? I felt I'd taken a trip back to the early '90s. An old friend of mine was really into this scene back then and made me a mix tape in the hopes I'd also enjoy it as much as them. While I did see the beauty of it I never really got into it as much as them, even though I played the tape until it wore out. However, a lot of the electronic sounds and loops I remember from back then appear to still be in circulation for artists of today.

In fact, those that bought and loved the 1996 spaceship racing game Wipeout 2097 on the Playstation may have a bit of a memory glitch and think this EP is a reworking of some of the tracks on that game.

Going on the strength of this release, if the Internet had progressed as slowly as this scene we'd still be visiting websites packed with animated gifs and brightly coloured flashing backgrounds.

The EP contains 6 tracks (36 min, 33 sec) and is really only one for diehard followers of the genre. I did enjoy it, but more from a nostalgic point of view than anything else.

5

Nick Smithson