2562: Aerial (Tectonic Recordings)

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Posted on Jul 29th 2008 12:16 am

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2562: Aerial

2562
Aerial
TECCD004
Tectonic Recordings 2008
10 Tracks. 51mins09secs

2562 is the project of one Dave Huismans who, unlike the vast majority of artists evolving within the confines of, or in the immediate periphery of dubstep, doesn’t actually come from London but from The Hague in the Netherlands, where his local postcode provides him with his moniker. Huismans is not a new comer. He has, in recent years, released records under a variety of pseudonyms, including Dogdaze and A Made Up Sound, and has already been gathering praises for his various incarnations as techno boffin or conveyor of broken beats.

Huismans first appeared as 2562 (pronounce twenty-five sixty-two) last year with a couple of EPs released on Bristol-based Tectonic Recordings and rapidly gained critical acclaim across the board. Aerial takes the scope of these EPs further, propelling his elegant dubstep-infused minimal techno with bare hypnotic grooves and vast reverbs. Very much like Burial or Various Productions, Huismans uses dubstep as a vehicle more than as a mean to an end, which means that he doesn’t get trapped by any particular genre, but this is pretty much where the comparison ends. Huismans’s sound is undeniably slick and urban, but the tone is much smoother and the beats are more straightforward and rounded, especially on tracks such as the driving centrefold formed by Channel Two, Techno Dread and Basin Dub. This is, it seems where the real fuelling power of this record resides. These three masterful classic techno moments swap angular beats and nuclear grooves for more open and engaging patterns, and infiltrates the rest of the compositions in a variety of forms.

Earlier, Huismans explores more contrasted grounds, especially on album opener Redux, which snakes its way through the humid torpor of a muggy dub, and the equally sticky and hot Moog Dub. In between, the smooth clean lines of Morvern find 2562 in minimal techno Berlin style mood. Later, Huismans injects some of the broken beats he has experimented with on other projects, first on Greyscale, which progresses painfully through some of the most atmospheric moments of this record, and later on closing track The Times, where time, caught in a heavy and clammy dub, almost comes to a standstill, while Kameleon, with its friendly bongo groove and warm bass line, offers an unusually accessible side to the project.

With his debut album as 2562, Dave Huismans is delivering on the promising EPs released last year. By grabbing dubstep with both hands and incorporating into his own musical universe, twisting it into shape and moulding it as he pleases, Huismans has created quite an distinctive record which is likely to make a durable mark.

4.2/5

2562 (MySpace) | Tectonic Recordings (MySpace)
Buy: CD | LP | iTunes

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