Swamp (Ricardo Villalobos Version) [LP]

Ricardo Villalobos/Mohammad Reza Mortazavi - Swamp (Ricardo Villalobos Version) [LP]

Ricardo Villalobos runs wild on Mohammad Reza Mortazavi's Persian tombak hand drum actions, expanding a four-minute kernel of inspiration into 24 minutes of mesmerizing polyrhythmic traction. From an original "Swamp" piece that practically recalls Ricardo's style of slinky minimal techno sorcery to begin with, the Chilean-German maverick derives a more driving tract of rough-hewn rhythmic grit bound to hypnotize floors for the duration. Accentuating the undulating bass and dialing up the volume whilst retaining the frictional grind of the original, Villalobos gets right inside the groove with typically obsessive tekkerz, plucking out additional string motifs and tempering the flow with signature, taut but sinuous, loosey goosey flex that cross-pollinates cultures and gets right under the skin of the thing. Ricardo Villalobos (b. 1970, Chile) is a pioneering figure in minimal techno, celebrated for his hypnotic and groovy approach to rhythm. Raised in Germany after his family fled Pinochet's regime, Villalobos was drawn early to percussion -- he began playing congas and bongos at eleven, developing a tactile relationship to rhythm that would later inform his distinctive production style. Immersed in both Latin American folk traditions and the emerging house and techno scenes of la(more...)

A1. Swamp (Ricardo Villalobos Variation) - Part 1
B1. Swamp (Ricardo Villalobos Variation) - Part 2