dyLAB – Wordsmith Project (Acid All Stars)

Cat no: AA22
Release date: 12/05/11
Get it from: Beatport

Three-oh-three rapture hisses from every valve of a perfectly engineered release from Melbourne’s dyLAB, a producer evidently enamoured, not only with the sound of acid’s old skool, but also with its founding principles: the idea of the acid as experimental counterpoint to the marching rhythm of house and techno; as an ever-expanding fractal, as psychedelic graffitti on the austerity of a four-four beat. There are seven tracks here and they can be sampled via his Soundcloud page, or his blog, where he explains the genesis of the project thus: ‘The EP is based around the concept of using the Roland TB-303 as a typewriter, and writing short words or phrases using the notes of the 303 and seeing what works, musically. The rhythms all come from the Roland TR-707, some live and some multitracked.’

Kicking things off is BAD Version Two (140 BPM)** which fuses the speed and structure of more fearsome acid techno to a kaleidoscopic, echoing acid pattern, the result being a mini masterpiece of hypnotic 303. It’s the pick of the EP and certainly the one that lends itself best to a faster techno set. Meanwhile BAD (130 BPM) is a more explicitly house treatment, while the original of CAGEDFACE shades it over the second version (both 130 BPM) by having just that bit more thump. FAG and DEAD (both 130 BPM) strip things way back to the Windy City, but with a far brighter sound – like a Blu-Ray version of 1980s acid house – while EP closer A Fag Gagged Bad (130 BPM) is an itchy unsettling tune that I genuinely can’t say whether I like or or not, so I won’t try. As a whole, a superb EP, and a brilliant introduction to the DyLAB sound and philosophy, an approach he expands further on upcoming release In Filter, which we’ll get to in due course…