Franco Cangelli: Highway
Aesthetik Records

Franco Cangelli steps out with a sleek smattering of deep and soulful Detroit-styled techno on Aesthetik's sixth release. The sleek and lithe opener “Highway” grows incrementally by adding burbling chord accents to a stomping pulse and handclaps and, when the hi-hats kick in two minutes in, the effect is pure bliss. In the jittery techno-funk swing of “Things Coming Together,” rapid-fire electronic flares fire in all directions while bass tones snake their way through the open spaces. Reynold's stampeding remix of “Presumably So” achieves liftoff with a percolating electro bassline and surging chords propelling the relentlessly banging tune skywards. Cangelli's “Presumably So” original starts out as a slinky and slightly less raging creature than the one Reynold lassoes but it gradually picks up speed too until it eventually settles into funkily sashaying cruise mode. Four slices of high-quality techno-soul.

March 2008