redshape: red pack ii

Almost exactly three years after the first, Redshape has readied his second Red Pack on his own Present imprint alongside his frequent Dutch home, Delsin. While the world is still enjoying the German's latest album Square, the man himself has typically moved on once more. On Red Pack II, he offers up six tracks of hugely atmospheric and romantically industrial techno across two pieces of vinyl. First up, "Disco Marauder" has raw, jangling beats, traumatized vocal cries and plenty of sci-fi ambience, all coalescing into a filmic techno tapestry, before "Path Dub" goes deeper and more streamlined with rattling claps peeling off taut synth cables in hypnotic fashion. The same track also comes in an original version, which is a much more jagged, roughshod and textured affair. "The Source" is a track slowed to a crawl that almost seems to want to collapse under its own weight. Machines gurgle and gargle, the beats march on with a heavy heart and widescreen synths present a sense of cinematism that makes Redshape such a unique producer. Standout track "Daft Mode" features a beautiful Reese bass line and rich layers of classic Detroit chords of the sort Inner City once championed. Redshape then pairs them with slicing percussion and loose-limbed but tough-edged beats and lets them roll on to a blissfully emotive oblivion. Fans of "Mucky Bones" from the first Red Pack might see this track as a close relative. Last track "Bulp Head" is one of Redshape's more euphoric tracks, thanks to the glistening and pixelated melodies which rise up and up through choppy, metallic percussion. It closes out another release from Redshape that offers six more classic pieces that are as idiosyncratic as they are innovative.