Poverty is violence return once more deliberately shaking up the place and blurring the house / techno divide, label owners Tapirus aka Rotterdams underground techno hero Charlton Ravenberg and Nick Dunton of legendary techno label Surface and 65D Mavericks fame serve up a split EP.
‘Where Are We Heading’ EP is a sequel to the stunning entry by Tapirus aka Charlton Ravenberg, and offers greater room for the artist to roam, breathe, flex and grow. The title track ‘Where Are We Heading’ questions the forward march by mankind with a Mr. Fingers touch providing pause in between the war. Offering up his interpretation on B2 is Credit 00, adding battle call drums and a kind of majesty, he rallies new life to the mix, pointing a way forward in this crazy collective experience we call life.
Hailing from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Dutch artist, Tapirus aka Charlton Ravenberg reemerges with new single on U.S. imprint, Emphasis. Enlightenment is an ethereal jacking track, taking inspiration from the Dutch and Detroit techno of yesteryear. Shuffling 707+808+909 drum sounds underneath melancholic synth pad. A string solo plays gingerly on top, sending the listener into deep space! Finishing off side A, is What Do You Recon, a bubbling, burbling acid track; twisting and warping minds on the dance floor. Had To Walk Away Girl, because sometimes you just have to. Its not about you! Dutch techno at its finest here. Acid bassline tweaking underneath solo synth line that meanders through the ebb and flow of your thoughts. Rounding out the single is Specific Epithet, which conjures up dark, wide spaces in the mind with its eerie synth solo and low synth bass stabs.
Doing their own thing with a host of less-familiar names, Mord has worked tirelessly over the past couple of years to establish a distinct sound within more techno-minded realms. Charlton returns with a second release for the label that brings a range of moods to bear on his looped-up style, kicking off with the Robert Hood-isms of “Vulnerable” with its nervous cyclical chimes, before “Stand Behind A Line” burrows a little deeper into throbbing machine rhythms with acid overtones thrown in for good measure. “Unforgiven” opens things up with a mammoth, distorted square wave synth line that flinches not once in its quest to devastate the dance. “Simple” thing brings some 303 action back into the mix but balances it out with a dense base layer of industrial grunge to make for a nice and dirty ass-shaker.
Appearances from Charlton Ravenberg are few and far between, with just seven releases since 2006 including a few shared spots alongside the likes of Regis and Djorvin Clain. This turn for ever-growing Argentinean techno imprint Krill Music showcases a sturdy approach to the techno blueprint, keeping things dynamic and fluid while making sure it smacks where it ought to. “Beyond Misery” is something of a smoke screen with its housey groove and minimal bleep demeanor, but “The Aggression Scale” soon puts paid to this with abrasive acidic swirls of atonal melody and a mean-tempered rhythmic thud. “Know Yourself” takes things deeper with some intricate percussive detail in a cyclical arrangement, while “If They Don’t Realize” lets the drum machines fit and start around a dubbier kind of techno throwdown.
New release on the Swedish label Pohjola. Proper techno from Charlton and Jeroen Search, with two cuts for each.
Charlton Ravenberg is the dutch artist who signs the 4th M_Rec Ltd’s vinyl. In this EP he has 4 tracks…where it shows its full potential. In tracks such as ‘Basterd’ and ‘Slow Down’ creates trip slow and hypnotic… in tracks like ‘Backwards’ and ‘Forwards’ trips are a little more techno with Detroit school influences. It’s a release that will sure know more about the label and the artist for its modernity and its substance.
The Hipodrome Of Music 