Various - Kanlab Series 2, 3, 4 (Balkan Vinyl)

 

Title: Kanlab Series 2, 3, 4

Artist: Various

Label: Balkan Vinyl

Cat Number: KL02/KL03/KL04

Genre: Techno/Electro

1: Acidulant – Imaginary Friend

2: Panda Xpress – Catchfire

3: Chevron – Manctronix

4: Chevron - Unity

5: Echaskech – Appetence

6: Echaskech – Shadow Freaks

A nice mixed bag this, even though  electro is the dominant force. So we have ‘Imaginary Friend’, ‘Shadow Freaks’ ‘Appetence’ ‘Unity’ and ‘Manctronix’, . There’s plenty of variety here within the scope of the template. ‘Manctronix’ itself is a very upfront, beat led track, the emphasis being on acid and a choral backing. ‘Unity’ is a similarly inventive track, again, using vocals in an original way. ‘Appetence’ and ‘Shadow Freaks’ come from opposite ends of the emotive spectrum. United by bass but divided by darkness, with the latter plumbing the mental clefts that little bit more. ‘Imaginary Friend’ has vocoders and it grinds, what more do you want. Finally, I find ‘Catchfire’ almost unlistenable. It feels like almost 4 minutes of compressed chaos. Impossible to dance to and out of step with the rest of the package.