Fresh from guesting on the debut Powell LP ‘Sport’ (XL Recordings), and having released on labels such as The Tapeworm, Entr’acte, and Halcyon Veil, Dale Cornish now presents ‘Clap’ - four rhythmic experiments that explore the mesmeric tones of the digital clap using the ever-popular TR909 clap pre-set. Sharing similarities in intention with N.M.O’s “as strict as possible” approach, pieces subtly evolve and mutate around the clap to generate motion, tension and action. ‘Oolovka’ takes an unashamedly joyous look at the clap, where melodic repetition whirls and whirls until it takes on a form of mesmerising minimalism – perhaps taking its cues from a modern take on Steve Reich’s ‘Music for 18 musicians’ as a backdrop for the clap to playfully roll over and mutate into a sound which is both refreshingly light hearted yet steeped in rhythmic experimentation. ‘Cxema’ takes us a into a tenser, more claustrophobic space where a heads down pulse keeps the body locked until the fog is occasionally broken and the tension momentarily cleared via delayed claps and familiar sonar tones. This vibe continues into ‘Isolate’ with Cornish upping the anxiety by using the clap as a foreboding menace. Coming across like an inspired soundtrack to a military performance piece the concern appears to revolve around strict precision and strict movement and how the clap can be used to enforce and heighten this functional display. ‘Before Encore’ winds things down by stripping things back to the bare minimum for movement – a single effected clap gradually layers and layers itself to create pleasingly odd high tension atmospherics solely through a meticulous process of delicate rhythm and repetition.
For their 7” debut on Where To Now? U mines the considerable depths of his MPC hard drive to present 3 snapshots of an artist shaking off their formative influences and commencing the journey to unexplored realms of the sampler’s universe.
'Junkies' has classical string stabs (that would later become a focal point on the sound of “Vienna Orchestra” (WTNLP05)) driven forth by dark, jazzy double bass licks, all shrouded in vinyl crackle and forced forward by a 2-step feel on the drums. It would have the essence of an early 2000s instrumental hip-hop track were it not for those drums shuffling off on a different tangent.
'Too Good For Me' toys more with the sampled nature of the music, throwing abrupt rewinds and record manipulation into a melange of rumbling industrial sounds led by a pulsing high-pitched melody. This is underpinned by a Bossa-styled beat that further unsettles the murky atmosphere of the track.
Finally 'Almost Man'’s exotic plucked strings and booming bass-heavy beat roll into snares in a marching rhythm that could reflect the march into the future for this unparalleled producer taking the lonely road to the outer edges of modern composition and electronic production.
![U - Joy Of Labour [7"]](http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0488/8057/products/wtn701_{width}x.jpg?v=1635954302)