Time Loop by Gamma Intel

Gamma Intel returns to Nerve Collect with four tracks of electrically charged bass, techno and broken beats. His Time Loop EP explores a range of rhythms and tempos aimed squarely at the floor.

Nerve Collect co-founder Gamma Intel is Dutchman Laurens van de Werken. He has always worked at the intersection of several different sounds, even as his references have evolved from chugging techno to deconstructed jungle. A unifying theme is this meticulous sound design: it's leftfield and experimental but underpinned by irresistible rhythms while his synths are so tactile you could almost reach out and grab them. His latest studio adventures mark another subtle shift across four hard-to-define and otherworldly transmissions sent back from the future.

‘Construct’ crackles with paranoid urgency driven by underlapping drums that push a cantering rhythm. Fragmented vocal chops and fuzzy, static-laced synths swirl throughout the mix to create a vortex of controlled chaos. Eerie breakdowns offer fleeting breaths, but the creeping tension of surveillance never fully releases before the disorienting momentum draws you back in. ‘Node’ feels like a computer meltdown fused with a floating, dub-inflected and steppy rhythm. Snares flutter up top as frothing synths and warped bass bring the pressure. The final touch is human vocals, decayed by signal inference, which melt into percussive loops and echo about the mix.

‘Cycle’ takes a more muscular approach. The oversized drums and hits engage in battle with a snaking lead as a backlit glow consumes both to provide for a moment of human beauty that contrasts with the stark machine warfare around it. ‘Lever’ dives into deep dubstep madness, its full-bodied waves lurching like a storm-tossed ocean. Intricate details like distant sirens, flickering streetlights and mutant sine waves fill the stereo field and, paired with the unstoppable rhythmic force, hypnotise body and mind.

Gamma Intel's Time Loop EP is a masterclass in tension, texture and momentum that pushes club music into uncharted territory, keeps the body moving and the imagination fully engaged.

Rotterdam based.

Co-founder of Nerve Collect.

Gamma Intel is out to surprise, both as a DJ and a producer. He wants to find unfamiliar nuances in familiar worlds. He looks to collide unlikely sound sources into something fresh. A meticulous studio craft is at the heart of what he does, but it does not define it. Above all he wants to make you dance, just not to what you might expect.