Fracture: Loving Touch EP
Exit Records

Fracture—Astrophonica label runner (home to artists such as Machinedrum and Om Unit) whose music has appeared on Goldie's Metalheadz and dBridge's Exit Records—makes good on the promise of the earlier Get Busy with another Exit Records release. It hardly surprises that of the four cuts on his latest EP (vinyl and digital), it's “Loving Touch” that was selected for its title. But don't get the wrong idea: though it is an undeniable stormer, the others also have much to recommend them, especially when they explore different sides of the Fracture equation.

“Loving Touch” dynamically funks up Ralphi Rosario and Xavier Gold's early Chicago classic “You Used to Hold Me” by undergirding its belting soul vocalizing with a pulverizing breakbeat-inflected groove and a lethal bass wobble. Fracture changes things up so rapidly on this five-minute stunner, the listener can't help but be dazzled by the invention on display. As dizzying is “Werk It,” which strips Fracture's sound down to a militant, jungle-tinged throwdown packed with claps, martial snares, and aggressive vocal declamations. A collaboration with Sam Binga produced at his Bristol studio, “Grippin' Grain” strips things down again, this time to an 808-laden workout whose sci-fi hyperactivity never lets up for a moment. In one final surprise, the funky outro “Overload” could almost pass for a Dilla collaboration, given the subtle headnod feel that seeps into its bass-and-breakbeats flow, not to mention the Donuts-styled siren that repeatedly snakes across the tune's surfaces.

Throughout the EP, Fracture demonstrates a remarkable talent for track construction and an intuitive gift for sequencing elements into mesmerizing wholes. “Loving Touch” might be the prime cut of the four, but it's hardly the only memorable moment on the eighteen-minute set.

August-September 2014