Literon, Storm/Nightfall

[Clone Basement Series]


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Prolific Dutchman Gert-Jan Bijl is a man of many aliases who is perhaps best known these days for the loose, spontaneous house he makes as Gerd and Amplified Orchestra. For Storm/Nightfall, his first 2010 release as Literon, Bijl sends out two tracks with a great sense of chiaroscuro, matching glimmers of those projects’ funkiness with darker, warehouse-style grooves. On “Storm,” steady 4/4 (albeit with a couple of tiny glitches — it’s always a treat to hear a few mistakes in the mix) is augmented by a two looping organ lines, one of which is filtered up and down for the duration, generating a kind of subdued euphoria. Varying amounts of hiss are added throughout, occasionally climaxing in brief bursts of noise as a tension-building device. These pseudo-breakdowns are often unnecessary, though, as the track moves quite well on its own.

“Nightfall” is similar: head-down, dark-corners house, featuring a swinging, syncopated garage rhythm and a super-low bass line. Between a grainy, droning undercurrent, a creaking, filtered melody, and a distant vocal sample, the whole thing feels as though it’s teetering on the edge of total bleakness. Suddenly, though, the frenzy breaks into crisp, bright piano stabs like an anchor of serenity. They may seem clumsy at first, but they’re really a sophisticated alternative to more traditional breakdowns, and greatly accentuate the funk at the track’s heart. Storm/Nightfall is a great choice for those enamored by the dusky, looping house of producers like Levon Vincent. Both tracks go a long way in sustaining a vibe with a few elements, but Bijl is also unafraid to make a sudden deviation to keep things interesting.

husain  on November 3, 2010 at 1:51 PM

looks like this post is missing a file to be played.

littlewhiteearbuds  on November 3, 2010 at 2:15 PM

All fixed now.

Si  on November 4, 2010 at 7:45 AM

yep Storm is well good, looking forward to playing it out – monstrous tracks

Henderick AKA Thelonious Funk  on November 4, 2010 at 10:43 AM

I dig the ep a lot. It already has support on the show. BTW Steve, the Nightfall tracks included some brazilian samples which includes the cuica instrument (creaky melody)which is used in batucadas in Brazil. Love it!!!

steve k  on November 6, 2010 at 12:22 PM

ah, thanks for pointing that out henderick – i couldn’t precisely pinpoint it as a cuica, but now that you mention it i totally hear that brazilian inflection.

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