For its fourth release, French label Bella Ursa Recordings introduces you to its ‘Ursa Scindo’ split series. A simple concept exists at its center: drawing power from duality, two like-minded and complementary artists provide a single track each and then proceed to remix each other out.
It will not only be released digitally, but also on a single tape with two slightly different designs.
For its first opus, we went down the atmospheric and cinematic techno road with Clarence Rise and label head-honcho Letherique.
The EP opens with Clarence’s Desmostylia, the faster-paced track of the release. Setting the mood with its epic-like tone and pulsating bassline, it is confidently lead on by a roaring backing synth. Almost never dropping the pace, its trance-like features could be reminiscent of a pack of wild beats instinctively running straight forward - never looking back, yet always on the lookout for the next danger.
Letherique’s Proboscidea then comes in with a more minimalistic and enigmatic approach. This thirteen-year-old curiosity, which has been patiently waiting for its time to shine all these years, was extracted from a chaotic jam session and restored with care from the embrace of techno limbo. With its ever-mutating alien sounds, heavy syncopated core, and backing synth reminiscent of a robotic elephant trumpeting, it could only have come from the mind of an isolated bedroom producer - someone who genuinely didn’t care about fitting in anywhere and was just having fun making and twisting strange beats.
Then comes the first remix of the bunch. Letherique enjoys twisting around Desmostylia with its own brand of spooky cinematic techno. Slowing it down and giving it a shamanic vibe, the track builds anticipation slowly, throwing an incantation on each breakdown and only being disturbed from time to time by a few unsettling bass notes lurking around in the background, like a predator stalking its prey. In the last part it then pounces from out of the shadows, revealing its true Lovecraftian form. It takes the listener completely by surprise and shifts the pace up into second gear.
Last but not least is Clarence Rise’s interpretation of Proboscidea. Giving it a more ambient techno feel and dramatically slowing it down, he gently blends the original sounds with masterfully-crafted orchestral synths backed by polyrhythmic and hypnotizing beats. This track leaves the listener in a state of deep meditation.
Proboscidea was mastered and restored with care by Artefacts Mastering, Berlin. Rest is mastered by Letherique.
