Benjamin Fehr: Before We Crawl
Catenaccio

The two tracks comprising Benjamin Fehr's Before We Crawl EP exemplify Catenaccio's unsettling ‘groove noir' style. After an opening flourish of industrial clatter, “Before We Crawl” barrels forth with a skeletal tech-house groove, the focus clearly on the machine whirrs, hydraulic noises, and voice snippets that violently erupt throughout. On the B side, a murky undertow of murmured voices and machine squeals burrows alongside a lightly jacking house pulse in “Feed Me With Your Kiss” until the beats drop out, exposing the raw innards of the tune's circuitry. Judging by the two cuts on display here, Fehr's more focused on sculpting sinister ambiance than on melody per se.

January 2007