- Beau Thigpen turned heads last year with a pair of stripped back but highly distinctive records—"Stacks Riddim" for All Caps and "Drum Track" for Night Slugs. Their restlessly evolving drum patterns felt like a collision of several rhythmic disciplines, from '90s loop-techno to mid-'00s grime. Thigpen's contribution to Night Slugs' Club Constructions series expands on the spartan, drum-led sound of his past work.
"Whoosh (Ice Dispenser)" features dense thickets of percussion, a meaty 808 bassline and little else. A single sheet-glass chord in the latter half supplies the narrative thrust. "Track Titled 1" marries the chunky syncopations of ballroom house with euphoric pre-dawn techno. Both are excellent, but Thigpen's fine rhythmic sense reaches its apex in "Linnjam." A succession of molar-grinding beat patterns frames a relentless arpeggio in the "Synth" mix, but its charms are better enjoyed in its synth-less counterpart. "Damnson" is the most linear of the bunch, falling somewhere between vintage Plastikman and early Downwards, but with a ghetto house bounce buried in there, too.
トラックリストA1 Whoosh Ice Dispenser
A2 Track Titled 1
A3 Linn Jam
B2 Damnson