ONLINE FLEX by JMV

Joseph Valentino is one of electronic music’s most intriguing figures, a deep-thinking artisan equally adept at evoking the Arizona desert’s sun-strafed vastness via his ambient-focused Neglect alias as conjuring images of cobalt seas under tenebrous skies as he does with ‘Online Flex’, a sublime slice of oceanic dub techno that recalls the saline swoon of prime Porter Ricks. Drenched in atmosphere (‘drenched’ being the operative word) and underpinned by a stealthy kick pattern that mimics the heartbeat of a hunting orca, it’s easily one of his most beautifully realised and expressive tracks.

It’s tough to think of an artist more suited than Kevin Palmer aka Best Available Technology to the role of remixer and the two takes he supplies here reflect his enduring fascination with techno’s demersal zone. ‘SONORAN VRSN’ refracts the original through an aquamarine prism, bending and blurring its contours until it teeters on the brink of amorphousness, whilst ‘CONIFEROUS VRSN’, by contrast, is more pleasure cruise than deep sea dive, a propulsive shimmer of popping percussion and polychrome synth that fizzes and gurgles for 9 enthralling minutes.

This is dub techno at its immersive best.
Take the plunge.
- Nic Brown (twitter.com/NicBrownNoise)

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