The Answer Is In The Beat

Color Plus: Regular Energy + TOWMIX01 tape (Towhead, 2018)

June 23, 2018 at 2:21 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

The EP Color Plus released on Vanity Press last year was way too slept on. The Brooklyn producer has loads of other releases, though, including these 2 new ones on his own label. Regular Energy is his first CD, and it’s a set of hyped-up club tracks with heavy but skeletal rhythms embellished with breaking glass, turntable scratches, crowd chants, and some melodic textures on a few tracks, such as the ambient fizzling on “Ut”. Sometimes the beats slow down and approach trap territory, like on the Girl Unit-esque “456 Fatality”, but others are faster club versions of trap’s percussive elements. Some powerful club ammo right here.

Of course, while Color Plus constructs some deadly club tools which are exciting enough to listen to on their own, his work shines best in the mix. Just witness one of his live sets. Or take a listen to TOWMIX01 which you can download for free on Bandcamp. Way more of a journey than his CD, this one winds album tracks (and Acemo collab “Da Back” from the Vanity Press EP) through tracks by DJ NJ Drone, Izy, Kanyon and others. Each track gets about 2 minutes before rushing into the next, so it’s always moving from one rush to another. And yet it’s not absolute sensory overload, or like a contest to cram as many tracks in as possible. It has a natural, logical flow to it. The first side dips into a couple of trap songs, and around the beginning of the second side, it gets into more of a basement rave vibe. The tracks seem to bleed into each other more, creating a feeling of unity but not monotony, but it’s also a bit choppier and scratchier. Also, just want to say that the “bite marks” sound effect that pops up every so often makes me smile.