Breaker 1 2 vs Ekman – Ratz In The Back
With releases from Ekman, MGUN and the mighty Gesloten Cirkel to its credit, the Berceuse Heroique label has been the subject of some well-deserved attention. Judging by this latest release, it’s about to get a whole lot more praise. Like the Buz Ludzha release for All City earlier this year – in attitude rather than substance – this record feels like a breath of fresh air. With one grand sweep, it renders the majority of releases around it obsolete and redundant.
Forget the tired ’90s techno pastiches, the self-indulgent noiseniks and the sterile ‘Noo’ Jersey house clones, this 12″ sees Ekman and Breaker 1 2 deliver an electric bolt to the head. Breaker 1 2 provides for this writer a vast improvement on Breakin, his 2013 debut for Forbidden Planet. “Ratz in The Back (Sewage Remix)” is a tough rhythm track, angry drums crashing in over a searing, droning acid bass and ferocious percussive volleys. That’s not to suggest that it is streamlined or functional and there is something chaotic about its delivery, its anger expressed through passion and random bursts of electronic noise rather than virtoso production techniques. When this writer first heard it, I had to keep replaying it to make sure I wasn’t hearing things.
Ekman’s “Fuck Your Rock And Jack Your Funk” is just as incendiary. Its primary inspiration appears to be the bowel-loosening low end of Miami bass, but here too sinister-sounding textures and acrid acid lines prevail as a creepy male vocal provides a narrative that has nothing to do with thongs or bouncy bum cheeks. Of course, neither artist has created something entirely new. Both tracks borrow and take inspiration from existing sounds. This is the manner in which all great music has been created for decades. However, instead of merely copying older styles, they use them as starting points for productions that seethe with an energy and crackle with a rare vitality. Buy this record now and cherish it for many years to come.
Richard Brophy
Tracklisting:
A1. Breaker 1 2 – Ratz in The Back (Sewage Remix)
B1. Ekman – Fuck Your Rock And Jack Your Funk