The debut release from Dublin-based party series turned record label Yin Yang is a tour de force through the darker underpasses of contemporary club music. Sprawling across 25 tracks, the label brings together rising artists from Southeast Asia to Europe with pitstops just about everywhere in between.
Whilst kicking off a record label with a 25-track compilation, might run the risk of diluting any coherent sense of identity, Yin Yang sidesteps this by providing a V/A defined by a focus on a sense of foreboding and unease.
From the violent kicks and claustrophobia of Imnotyourmate’s ‘Something More’ to the electro paranoia of Hank LW’s ‘Pleasure’, this is not an album intended to cuddle you to sleep. It will, however, dredge up memories of the mechanic hedonism we all miss so much right now.
Our premier arrives courtesy of Midlands League and whilst there is little information about the rising techno producer, sonically and aesthetically, I think it’s safe to assume, that they hail from Ireland.
On ‘Nasal Spray’ we get a jungle-indebted eyes-closed moment. Across an unwinding breakbeat, the track starts with a Detroit-flecked arpeggio line that gives the song both a richness and a hint of melancholy. Some detuned rave chords and an MC arrive slightly later on, turning the track into a time-bending exploration of the hardcore continuum.
‘Complex Contrast’ is scheduled for release 4 September via Yin Yang. Order a copy from Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
1. Blue Hour – Dualism
2. Casper Hastings – Remedy
3. Mutant Joe – Serpent
4. Ani Klang – The Divine Maggot
5. Kessler – Doctor’s Order
6. Rune Bagge – Know The Price
7. False Persona – Neural Excursion
8. Dylan Forbes – Echolalia
9. Midlands League – Nasal Spray
10. Faith – FEM
11. Imnotyourmate – Something More
12. Offtrack – Movement Controller
13. VIGILE – Hustlin
14. Maurice Anthony Moran – Deep Sea Tangle
15. Traxsuits – Balaclava
16. SAAH – Transmission
17. Aero – Crippled Vision
18. Hank LW – Pleasure
19. Gadget and The Cloud – Sanzhi
20. Clutterhead – Candy
21. Ceili – Unity
22. Messiahwaits – Your Sins
23. Low Tape – The Rhythm Of My Life
24. Mackcyy – Team
25. Patrice & Evra – Baldoyle Cali