[Acido Records]

There is little better than the feeling of discovering a record label and diving into their discography. I usually make these kinds of discoveries at times where I feel that dance music is overly consensus-driven, finding the same names and labels in mix after mix, review after review, and the introduction of new names is a welcome bit of fresh air. One of my big finds of late last year was Berlin-based Acido Records, whose limited back catalog jumps around to practically all styles of dance music, from Drexciyan electro to tripping techno. While their sound may be inconsistent the quality is anything but, issuing eight intriguing slabs of wax since 2004. The latest Acido transmission, their eighth, comes from the team of label head Dynamo Dreesen and SVN under the name Dresvn.

Woodlandscene consists of six slow-burning analog workouts, some reduced and atmospheric, others more up-tempo and energetic. A1 shuffles along with woodblock patterns, adding gradually intensifying percussive elements until it simply stops. A2 is a languid house track whose purely electronic sounds lend an unlikely pastoral quality to the tune, and A3 slows things down with quivering static noises and half-time rhythms. Over on the B side things kick off with squirming frequencies and taut low-end sounds over sprightly beats on the B1, while B2’s sluggish feel and ascending/descending tones keep the energy at a simmer. B3 closes the EP out with a beatless scenario filled with crackles and reserved warbles.

What’s perhaps most striking about Woodlandscene is how the use of purely electronic sounds lend the record such an idyllic feeling. I imagine it as a sort of musical equivalent of the Tiergarten or Prospect Park: somewhere in the middle of a major metropolis where jaded urbanites can retread into wilderness for a bit. With Woodlandscene we’re certainly not leaving the realm of electronic music, but it just feels so warm and natural that you can almost see the analog sounds coming out of the mouths of birds and squirrels. This is mostly thanks to the analog machines employed by Dresvn, but while the warmth radiating from their equipment is undeniable so is the lightness etched into its grooves by the playfulness of its creators. This is music that doesn’t really care about genre, tempo or DJ functionality, and this, coupled with the fact that it’s just a seriously good set of tunes, keeps me coming back to Woodlandscene.