Djamel: Kireru
Heavy Reel

Djamel: Voyeurism In High Definition
Process Recordings

Perhaps no track has ever been more perfectly titled than “Kireru,” given that the translation of the Japanese term—“snap” or “explode”—is precisely what Djamel Medjber's track does for seven octane-fueled minutes. The EP, Heavy Reel's second, finds Djamel's original also receiving makeovers by Reeko (Juan Rico) and Fran Hartnett. Springing into motion, “Kireru” tears ferociously into its bulldozing techno pulse like a rabid doberman ripping another's throat out. With the machine-driven groove locked in place, violent stabs writhe and groan with hellacious fury as a seething synth swarm swoops in. The tempo and intensity are both so punishing it verges on ridiculous, and one is left awestruck in the face of such a spectacle. Reeko's remix gets rolling with a thudding kick drum leading the charge before a thunderous broil sets in. Though the attack is a tad less intense than the original—how could it be otherwise?—Reeko's version is nevertheless a full-throttle burner in its own right. Think ten minutes of relentless churn and gallop, with all of it peppered with a constant barrage of clattering percussive noise. Hartnett rises to the challenge with his own storming take, a tidy six-minute mix that kicks up some serious warehouse dust as it pummels its rolling synth lead and stabbing rhythm attack into delirious shape.

Not surprisingly, Medjber's other EP doesn't quite rise to the level of intensity of Kireru but is a captivating listen nonetheless. Despite the title's tease, the voyeurism in question more generally concerns the ubiquity of surveillance as opposed to spying of the dirty-old-man stalker kind. In this case, the Irish DJ works up a driving house lather in the EP's sole original, “Voyeurism In High Definition,” which also receives a makeover from Corrugated Tunnel (Edwin James Cummins) and a “Lo-Def” dress-down by Medjber himself. The original burns brightly for eight minutes, with Djamel twisting its ricocheting melodies into slightly acidic form and intermittently spritzing the tune's insistent forward drive with a slamming buckshot chord. The Corrugated Tunnel version doesn't lessen the original's clubby tech-house vibe but does deepen it with the addition of a hard-grooving bass pulse. What results is a breezy stepper that achieves lift-off at about the two-minute mark and then stays airborne for the remainder. The “Lo-Def” take is pretty much a bonus track that riffs on the original by nudging it more into a clubby direction, but that's hardly objectionable when the snappy version turns out to be so joyous and effervescent.

March 2011