stephen lopkin: clyde built

Scottish producer Stephen Lopkin is back on M>O>S Recordings with a great double pack of that gleaming sound. Having released two EPs on the label since 2014, Stephen Lopkin now steps up to M>O>S with a 2x12" release entitled Clyde Built, recorded in his home town Thornliebank. The Scottish artist has been making prickly house and techno for almost a decade. His style is serene and slick, and across the ten tracks here he manages to conjure tracks that work in the club but that come with plenty of cerebral qualities. He never made it a secret that he takes a lot of influence from early Detroit techno, even several track titles pay direct homage to his musical heroes like Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Carl Craig, and also the track "New Euro Politique" is made in memory of the late UK producer Matt Cogger, aka Neuropolitique. "Welcome To Nowhere" kicks thing off with languid house grooves and jittery percussion, "Matrix 1000" is awash with swirling pads and astral grooves and "New Euro Politique" is a blizzard of kicks, panning percussion, and arpeggiated synths that glows bright. There are darker, driving cuts like "Fridays At Pure", trippy offerings like the title track and more thoughtful and pensive jams such as "Qinosen". The final three tracks are busy, electrifying pieces that fire every synapse with their sci-fi fx, crisp drums, and cinematic atmospheres. The whole album is wrapped up in majestic synth work and every track reveals more layers with each listen. Offering a sublimely complex house and techno sound, these tracks look back to go forwards and do so with a real timelessness.