DaFluke: Glances And Stares EP
Sushitech Purple

DaFluke's (Canadian Lucas Granito) minimal techno fits cozily alongside similarly rich outings from foundsound and Microcosm. Like those labels' artists, Granito never loses the rhythmic plot, so to speak, yet finds endless ways to spin arresting variations upon it. “I Wish,” for instance, does groove but, when built from a swizzling dance base, a whispered murmur (“I wish”), and spindly upper-register accents, does so idiosyncratically to say the least (Marcel Knopf soaks “I Wish” in a glitch bucket, too, in a rather faded electro remix). And, like so many of the foundsound and Microcosm releases, Glances And Stares renders the 'minimal' label absurd when a never-ending flow of ideas and details emerges in its five songs.

Following a faded, electro-tinged teaser of claps and voice fragments (“Electro Hop Angels”), the EP gathers steam with the fun-house club pumper “Hotboyz,” the song boosted by a ridiculously wild weave of voice snippets that makes it sound like the greatest song The Soft Pink Truth never released. In fact, the EP's most captivating feature is Granito's funky vocal treatments—not a new idea necessarily but one handled memorably nonetheless. And, no, “Fuck Dears” isn't a motherly command but a track Granito produced to exorcize his annoyance over the constant buzz surrounding Leave Luck to Heaven; though it doesn't sound a whole lot like Dear, its surging house shuffle is certainly potent, especially when staccato percussive stutters fall from the sky amidst the bright splash of a neo-fusion keyboard motif.

March 2006