'2' / Powertrip [Review]
Boundary-pushing electronic music label Powertrip meaningfully explores the cutting edge of experimental dance music in Naarm with their second compilation featuring six tracks from three budding producers.
The idiosyncratic approach adopted by Powertrip in releasing their second compilation was all purposeful and considered, according to label head and founder Female Wizard. Clearly, the structure of three artists all contributing two pieces of work each is in direct opposition to the typical long-form style-unspecific compilations that have popularised due to isolation. Though what those comps gain in genre and artist diversity, they tend to lose in coherence and experimentation.
So it was in response to this lust for providing a space for emerging artists to explore the upper limits of production in a curated and unified manner that Powertrip 2 was born. It ties in with the ethos that has been with Powertrip since its naissance: to rebel against the perceived norm and expectations of what dance music currently is, and instead provide an opportunity for creatives to explore what dance music could be, aided by the room to explore sonically through not only one contribution, but two.
The compilation features tracks from three producers Female Wizard herself deeply admires including well-seasoned creative RBI, established DJ and first-time label releaser Indicia and relative newcomer to the scene Dilae.
First up is two chuggy tracks “club tool” and “Space Dirge” from DJ, producer and Fluxx label co-founder RBI. “club tool” feels like completely uncharted territory for RBI, who earlier this month released classic drum and bass track “Check It” via PHENOMENA following her angry high-BPM fast dance double-single Get Me Out / TAKE IT FOR ME ON THE FLOOR. It’s introspective, slow and oozing with industrial noise, while kick drums drunkenly dance around the low end, panning from left to right.
Where “club tool” is an experiment in playing with noise and the movements it creates, “Space Dirge” is an experiment in playing with pace and texture. The almost 10-minute track is a concoction of whirling and phasing pads that evolve until a high-pitched synth artefact bursts the sonic terrain, akin to the noise of rain dripping and trickling down a drain. When the kick enters it feels purposeful and deliberate, as opposed to the more conventional notion of being there just to fill the low-end and adhere to the structural requirements of a ‘dance track’. There’s a moment in “Space Dirge” where the sound dissolves until there’s only a tiny spark, a flicker of what was left in the form of a tiny synth line, before growing once again into a powerful miasma of noise, met with an electro beat and off-kilter percussion.
This is such a welcome release from Ruby who has shown that not only does she possess the technical finesse and spirit to create a dance track fit for dance floors across the globe, but also has an acute awareness and understanding of the different forms of modulation that can keep a track exciting, invigorating and interesting to both a musicophile and active listener.
Indicia’s “HiveHive” is a highlight of the compilation, an impressive wall of sound that frankensteins together panning acid calls, fragmented percussion and the eventual pounding kick drum that injects the track with vitality and life. “Shout out to MESS Ltd for its Foundations of Electronic Production Course” Indicia says regarding the track, “where I wrote the entirety of “HiveHive” on its library of synths and modular pieces”.
For those of who you aren’t aware, MESS is an incredible organisation, school and collection of both old and new electronic instruments, mostly modular, centred around putting these instruments into the hands of supportive communities of electronic music lovers ready to take their explorations further. “HiveHive” was impressive enough before realising it was made exclusively on hardware and modular equipment, and with this newfound knowledge I am even more astounded by the creative and technical prowess that Indicia possesses. And their first label release, too!
“Trash Pancake” is equally enticing, centred upon a high synth-line that eventuates into screeches and drum programming that sounds more akin to feet stomping than your typical 808-pattern. Seemingly out of nowhere a trance gated pad emerges, foreshadowing the following bombardment of sound that transforms into a funk-like bass line. What I love about all of these tracks is their ability to surprise you at any moment. I might have been surprised that a funk bass line was thrown into this seemingly industrial off-kilter techno track before being acquainted with Powertrip, but after listening to this compilation I am certainly not. There is no limitation in style, scope, pace and space in these tracks and the artists are constantly finding new ways to break the boundaries of electronic music. Indicia says on the release:
"It has been such a joy to work on these tracks throughout this year. Female Wizard has been and is a total visionary and innovator, carving out new space for us all to play in. With these tracks I was able to bring together my early love of punk and its DIY, lo-fi ethos with my more recent experiments in electronic sound. In forfeiting structure and polish, I ended up stumbling and struggling a lot, but have created work that is markedly different from what I've made previously”.
“Hott” and “Mechatthong” are two captivating tracks from visual and audio artist Dilae, who is relatively new to the scene as a producer. “Hott” incorporates elements of hard style, breakbeat and trance with high modulating synth stabs at the forefront until the crisp, noisey and textured kick drum takes over as the focal point. In all of these tracks it feels as though the artist is honing in on one particular device and technique to explore, and in “Hott” Dilae masterfully constructs ebbs and flows in dynamic tension, providing multiple moments of unexpected climax and release.
Though it’s “Mechatthong” that is my personal favourite of Dilae’s and the compilation, a transcendental track that sits at the outer corners of trance meets left-field industrial techno. It almost feels as though Dilae is purposefully toying with the sounds associated with the modern era and technologisation in this track, with a battered synth line and rising noise pads that sound more like a computer starting up than your typical DAW-induced sounds.
When the principal synth melody emerges from the ashes of the dark terrain of sound, I was almost overcome with a sense of accomplishment - having reached the end of the journey and narrative that this compilation presupposes. It’s almost as if each track in the comp is teaching you something, or you gain a new perspective on dance music and life more broadly going through them, and “Mechatthong” is the final climax. It’s for this reason that “Mechatthong” is the perfect final track, as the synth-lines melodic movements and chord progressions beseech an overflowing of emotions and catharsis, while ending on the largest climax of them all.
Powertrip Vol. 2 is just another example of the incredible ways that the label and Female Wizard have been giving back to the dance community with interesting, meaningful and thought-out contributions in sonic output, expression and art. It arises within me a sense of hope for the future of dance music in Naarm, and a keen desire to all be able to unite once again on a dance floor listening to the future of experimental music.
Stay up to date with Powertrip on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and Instagram.
Art by Adam Price (@thisisurneighbour)
Article by Margarita Bassova (@rxtabass)
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