Adam Beyer: A Walking Contradiction
Plus 8

Magda: Stop
Minus

Two stellar 12-inch outings from Hawtin associates Adam Beyer and Magda. Clearly a firm believer in time management, Adam Beyer takes a mere nano-second to get his splendid “A Walking Contradiction” (Plus 8) pumping furiously. Off-beat handclaps goose the rabid pulse on the A side's “AWC Part I” as wipes, smears, and chugging noises work up locomotive steam. An oscillating pulse, as woozy as a drunken sailor, relentlessly streams at the tune's jittery core like a furiously shaken paint can. The second part chills the pace ever-so-slightly, allowing the listener to better savour the cross-currents of analog grit Beyer slathers over the driving pulse. Apparently it's the Swede's first US release in ages, which prompts one question only: “Why?”

Magda slows Beyer's breathless pace on her Minus debut single Stop, with the focus instead on the dense detail she elastically shape-shifts throughout the disc's four tracks. Emptying her cupboards of every available disco, acid, and dub ingredient, she sifts through a handful of genres during “48 Hour Crack in Your Bass,” an off-kilter stomp of monkey grunts, hi-hat triplets, and slithering bass lines that bleed and boing. A writhing pulse pumps the Detroit techno-acid house raver “Lockjaw” while a firecrack snare and quivering synth line goad the minimal disco stomp of “Panna Cotta Eyes.” Stop's mercurial grooves provide a tasty sampling of Ms. Hojnacka's bubbly techno style.

February 2006