Chris Liberator Guy McAffer
Shit Days Sloppy Brown 1685

Máscaras is anchored by Valdivia's deft and atmospheric production style that folds together intricate spiraling synths, balmy environments, and crisp drum programming, variously drawing from trap, footwork, early Warp-label gestures, and the digital end of dancehall reggae. Yet it's his love of organic instrumentation that truly cements his commitment to an eclectic, unclassifiable aesthetic. Although he's well-respected as a drummer—particularly in wayward rock and improvised music circles—Mas Aya often serves to showcase Valdivia's prowess as a wind player. His iterative but expressive playing on tin whistle, bansuri, quena (as well as other instruments such as the llamador, and thumb pianos) imbues these compositions with a warm, tactile quality. Lido Pimienta's vocal appearance on “Tiempo Ahora” builds upon this human presence, steering things temporarily into abstract R&B territory. Meanwhile, the sampled voices that Valdivia threads throughout the first side underscore his connection to hip hop production tactics, while referencing key figures within current and historical popular movements in Nicaragua.Although the record is steeped in both rhythmic electronica and a wide assortment Latin American sounds both contemporary and ancient, according to Valdivia, aspects of it also reflect his training with with noted composer Linda Catlin Smith, whose lyrical quasi-stasis can be heard lurking in its mesmeric, recursive structures.

I don´t even know if progressive garage is a thing. This is progressive garage...

Big time sax offender

Nice and slow garage house

Dj Haus in da house. He makes haus... House.

Madrid's Roll Dann keeps up the high quality of his first few releases with a new EP on his Opera 2000 label that offers four fine cuts.Roll Dann has already impressed with outings on Modularz, Soma and PoleGroup. It is the direct nature of his floor facing techno that appeals, and it comes infused with the inspirations he has picked up from a stint living in Berlin, as well as with the legacy of his teenage love of hardtechno-schranz. The start of Roll Dann & _asstnt's Opera 2000 marks a shift Roll Dann's creative direction where he focuses on an aggressive yet beautifully emotive style which is displayed wonderfully in his first solo release on the imprint entitled "Oppression Dance".Big opener "When The Hate Goes Away" is a frazzled, over driven techno monster with slamming kick drums and fizzing synths that will rewire any dance floor. The brilliant "Break The Dance" then hammers you over the head with its brutal drums and big synth walls, but a more thoughtful pad also smears over the groove to bring some tenderness. "Oppression" is quick and slick, with a kinetic sense of techno funk getting you on your toes. Last of all "The Club" is another winner, this time with its eerie pads, acerbic textures and rusty hits all racing along on powerful drum programming as a distorted voice is trapped in its midst.