Deadbeat: Eastward On To Mecca EP
Wagon Repair

Eastward On To Mecca finds Scott Monteith (aka Deadbeat) not only leaving his ~scape home for Wagon Repair (a temporary move, one presumes) but also, as rumour has it, his long-time Montreal base for Berlin , a veritable modern-day Mecca for electronic artists of his type. As their titles imply, the EP's three tracks offer variations on a theme: “ Mecca ,” a towering epic; “Mecca Drum Jack” a primarily percussive treatment; and “Mecca Dub”—no surprise to Deadbeat aficionados—a predictably superb dub version.

The EP's defining piece, “Mecca,” keeps up a steamy, propulsive jack for eleven, delirious minutes. After opening with shakers and tribal drum patterns, it settles into a shimmying dub-funk groove that, punctuated by muted horn accents, slowly grows in stature. Guitar flourishes echo across the burbling synth terrain, as the groove intensifies, growing ever more ferocious and acidy until it reaches its climax. “Mecca Drum Jack” strips away the melodies and ornamentation to give the song's throbbing tribal dimension the spotlight—at least until Monteith's “Check” utterance ushers in a house pulse that boosts the tune's surging feel (there's even a classic techno cymbal pattern thrown in for good measure). Less jacking by comparison, “Mecca Dub” royally struts with melodica traces and assorted other noises echoing through the ether. Monteith's got this sort of thing down to a fine art by now and it shows. Not a radical advance on the Deadbeat sound necessarily—more a consolidation of strengths than anything else—but a satisfying outing nonetheless.

February 2008