Deepchord, Prana / Tantra

[Soma Quality Recordngs]

Given his recent spate of releases with Soma, one could infer that Deepchord sure has been doing a lot of yoga lately. Soma’s name may very well stem from the way Burroughs and Huxley used it to refer to opiates, but for many “Soma” refers to the drink used in Ayurveda, the traditional medicine system of Hinduism. Rod Modell’s recent 12″ goes so far as to shout-out two key yogic concepts: that of prana (the life force one takes in through breathing) and tantra (a system of meditation using said life force). Perhaps most damning, however, is that Prana/Tantra just moves more than any Deepchord record I’ve heard in awhile. Its motions are not unlike those of a yoga class, as each measure flows into the next without ever really leaving its mat.

“Prana” features slowly building percussion, icy high-end, and minor chords on the upbeats, but while the constituent parts of dub techno rarely change, it’s immediately apparent when a particularly exceptional slice of the stuff lays in front of you. “Prana” is quite a bit brighter and more swinging than we usually hear from Deepchord, but few would mistake it as anything but Modell’s work. Its kick drums and sub-bass lines entangle just so — the same of which applies on “Tantra.” “Tantra” is more subdued in its approach, but as delayed elements pan around the stereo field and samples swell in the background its hard to think of anything else more hard-hitting. Like any good yoga class, Prana/Tantra hypnotizes with its physicality and its contentment to just let a good thing be the way it is. It may not try to rewrite the playbook, but Prana/Tantra has lately been the first thing I reach for when needing to escape to another place for 20 minutes.

Trackbacks

Chakras DeMystified – Part 2 – Prana: The Universal Life Force | The Epiphanator  on October 28, 2013 at 1:07 PM

[…] Deepchord, Prana / Tantra (littlewhiteearbuds.com) […]

Little White Earbuds October Charts 2013 – Little White Earbuds  on November 1, 2013 at 12:03 AM

[…] TCB, “Monogamie” [Die Orakel] (buy) 08. Tin Man, “Hack” [Pomelo] (buy) 09. Deepchord, “Tantra” [Soma Quality Recordings] (buy) 10. Signature Series, “Canopy” [Bad Party Records] […]

Popular posts in review

  • None found