Partial Arts

I've been super busy over at the FLC. It's not as simple keeping something like this moving as one might think. Regardless, some fresh cuts are long overdue so here's a few quickies.

Partial Arts - Trauermusik [Kompakt]

My first Kompakt record! I feel excited and dirty all at the same time. Wait, that didn't come out right... Oh! I've done it again...

For those who don't know, Partial Arts is actually DJ/Producer/Remixer extraordinaire Ewan Pearson and long-time collaborator Al Usher. The monnicker "Partial Arts" has only been used on a handful of releases and remixes, among them 2002's Canopy and recent remix of Audiofly's "Miscalate". "Trauermusik" is their first release on the Kompakt imprint and hopefully represents a turning point in the duo's collaborations. Partial Arts productions of the past have been sparse affairs, often little more than drums and bleeps, but "Trauermusick" is a step in a far more plush direction.

The track opens with a bell synth patch oscillating from ear to ear and quickly developes into minimal bleepiness. That's a good thing, though, as it fits in with what has to this point been the Partial Arts aesthetic. The rhythm track explodes with what Ewan has desribed in interviews as "cannon fire". The track continue to layer minimal elements on top of on another until the burbling electro bassline sneaks in at the 2:16 mark. Things get really dramatic when everything is faded down to low frequency pads. And thats when the cello kicks in (I never saw that one coming. Seriously.).

On The b-side, Alter Ego pump those low frequencies for all they're worth and force out the kind of electro-house work-out we've come to expect from the the makers of "Rocker". It's not as good as the original, though. Ewan and Al really have crafted a wonderfully melancholy track that chills you and lifts you all at the same time. It's the first Kompakt release I've heard that has an ounce of heart and, dare I say it, soul.