It would seem logical that a label begins by releasing the music of young blood, and then, as those neophytes evolve into veterans, bring more young blood into the fold. Ostgut Ton, steadfast in their commitment to not giving a fuck, took a somewhat different tack: let your stable of core artists establish themselves, and then bring in some other grizzled vets to keep them company. Hands don’t get much established than those of Rolando Ray Rocha, the Detroit techno legend whose 1999 EP Knights Of The Jaguar as the Aztec Mystic nearly made Underground Resistance a household name, so it makes sense he’d wind up as Ostgut’s latest next-big-thing-of-sorts. The 5 To 8 EP (suggested Sunday AM window for rotation?) is neither DJ Rolando’s nor the label’s finest hour in purely musical terms, but as Ben Klock revealed on his stately Berghain 04 mix last year, these tracks can do a lot of work. And what is Ostgut Ton if not one of the most uncompromisingly DJ-centric labels on the planet?
Remember a few years ago when so many producers thought all a track needed to be legit was a vocal sample name-checking one of house and techno’s ancestral homelands? Luckily for “De Cago,” these sorts of invocations just serve to drive home a point: there’s no chance of anyone crediting its manic Los Hermanos bounce to the musical legacy of Winnipeg or Marrakesh. “De Cago” is subtle and tasteful and effective — Klock used it to glue together Berghain 04‘s lockstep first half with its more rhythmically diverse second half — but it doesn’t feel whole without bookends. “Junie,” which closed down Berghain 04, does a better job of getting by on its own merits. With an intense, slightly stepping beat slithering along in half-time, its warm ambient chords and sour treble accents sound markedly more sinister than they would otherwise. If you have some gigs on your calendar, then the 5 To 8 EP might really come in handy; otherwise, I’d say snag yourself a copy of Klock’s superb mix for a little context. Regardless, I’m happy to see Rolando, a techno warrior if ever there was one, back leading the charge.
