The first release on the Perth imprint Cosi Cosi, Basic Mind's Grotto catalyses some of the great innovations of both Continental and Atlantic analogue techno; 80s formalism, late Drexciyan funk, darkroom acid; and indeed is one of Australia's purest sources of that ultra-orthodox, hardware-based sound.
At the same time, its dancefloor liturgies and moments of Balearic reflection make Grotti a cryptic and salient permutation of Australian dance music values in 2016. 'Grotto' is thoroughbred Meganesian techno with a boisterous earworm bassline, recalibrating to mirage-perfect funk in the track's close.
Airborne and ruminative 'Laika' is late night Indian Ocean sea shore acid, guided over peaks and troughs with virtuosic restraint.
The Gerani remix of 'Grotto' takes that track's subsurface rave inclinations and refracts them for the warehouse, frenetic but with oceanic shimmer; in contrast, DW's 'Digital Bassline fix' deploys Chain Reaction dub chords to explore 'Laika''s low end, shining the most in its final three minutes when it settles into a fathoms-deep scuba lounge groove.
COSI002 further documents an emerging, ex-Germanic theory of Perth dance music, typified by tracks built on techno’s stern compositional logic, but poly-functional and cross-disciplinary, wearing the stripes given to them by this most nonpareil of electronic music ecosystems.
The EP has both dance floor heft and mood-focused flexes. 'The Hunt' is a solarised, laser-sharpened and hi-hat driven garage/big room hybrid. 8-minute 'M is for Audio' is a workhorse techno slow burner with all the red-eyed melancholy of greats like 'Acid Eiffel' and 'Deep Burnt', acid burnt and stinging at the mid-range. Conversely, 'Rube' abounds with percussive warmth and ear-dancing patterns, as does 'Freshness and Convenience', a bastard union of dusty breaks and a hard funk bassline. The EP ends with ambient cyber walkabout 'Freetown', peripatetic, matte-toned and pulsing with vital signs.
