[Sons Of The Dragon]

Chat-room scuttlebutt has swirled around the true identities (and merits) of the Sons Of The Dragon, the artists behind this limited-edition white double-12″ of deep Detroit-flavored techno. Speculation has run the gamut with no definitive word seeming to be out there as to who these mystery men are (or, hey let’s be fair — it could be women!)

Whoever the Sons Of The Dragons are, however, there’s no question they know their way around some classic Detroit sounds and arrangements. The centerpiece here is “Motor City Matrix,” appearing in three mixes (including the brief down-tempo “Space Edit”) over the first record of the set. The original is a super-slick trip into Transmat territory, with percolating synths popping over the beat as the rhythm becomes the melody itself. The more stripped-down SP12 mix injects some more space, echo, and funky junk in the trunk, resulting in some extra cosmic goodness woven with the tough steel frame that all good things from the D are built upon. The second record features two long percussive workouts which serve as mirror images of each other: “The Evolution” and “The Journey” are similarly structured and executed along an ever-twisting spine of perpetually rolling beats and pulsing synths, with the latter introducing some very effective gauzy dub elements to the mix and the former keeping things in a bit crisper focus.

As to who the Sons Of The Dragon really are? Who cares. As long as they keep releasing music this fine, I don’t mind if they never want to show their faces to the world. The names are out there to be speculated over, but what’s really special about this release is the music. All the rest is just gossip.