Last year, we celebrated the return of veteran drum-and-bass and broken-beat innovator Domu, who resurfaced on the music scene after a four-year retirement.
In keeping with that good news, Domu’s former TrebleO label partner and fellow music-head Mr. Shift took the wrapping off a new record label this year called Sector 12/12. The progressive electronic label serves as a new home for some of Domu’s latest work and for several other forward-thinking producers and projects as well.
Mr. Shift first seeded us with a couple of free EPs. In January, we were treated to a three-track, introspective beat excursion from Infest (a/k/a Robbert Peperkamp) called Past Twelve. Shift followed that in March with Under the Weather, a highly-anticipated new EP from the legend Domu featuring broken, 4×4 and Umod-era downtempo gems.
Those were just the appetizers.
Today, Sector 12/12 served up its first official release, Baniza, a rebellious, jazz-minded techno EP from Canadian Berliner Mike Davis. Carefully culled from a stockpile of 22 demo tracks, the four songs here offer a hearty tasting of Davis’ Berlin-flavored, free approach to Detroit techno.
While each track encompasses a different mood, each song on the EP is a journey unto itself, with shifting structures and evolving sounds that transform when you least expect it. Davis explores numerous creative nooks within the repetitive pulse of the genre, approaching the style with a jazz musician’s ear for improvisation and interpolation.
There’s the futuristic crunch and squelch of “Baniza,” the delightfully twisted reconfiguring of 90’s-era TB-303 acid basslines in the appropriately titled “Toasted Acid,” the skittish beats of the soulful “Synaptic,” and the raw house vibe and spell-binding synth-play of “Pedestrian Sound.”
In the words of Mr. Shift, Baniza is “future music firmly grounded in dance floor culture with the attitude of a 1970’s jazz or punk record.”
You can preview Mike Davis’ Baniza EP for yourself here:
The previews give a hint of the different styles on the record, but to get a full appreciation of how each track metamporphasizes, you gotta cop the whole thing.
The EP is available starting today for purchase direct from Sector 12/12’s Bandcamp page. It’s also available from Traxsource, iTunes, Juno, 7 Digital.
Here’s the full tracklist:
1. Baniza
2. Toasted Acid
3. Synaptic
4. Pedestrian Sound
Sector 12/12 is just getting started, and the road ahead looks very interesting. According to the label, “Each track released on Sector 12/12 will be thought provoking, profound or poignant. We are passionate about songs that take you on a journey and create emotion. Our aim is to curate a bank of timeless music.”
Mike Davis, who also produces under the name MDVS, definitely fits the bill, and this Baniza EP attests to that.
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