The Answer Is In The Beat

Fear-E: Grey Skies In A Dear Green Place 12″ EP (Dark Entries, 2020)

April 4, 2020 at 11:59 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Glasgow’s Fear-E makes house music that’s both menacing and ecstatic, buzzing with fury and excitement. It’s all in the name, really. Last year’s “Jump On The House Train” was a delirious track with a hip-house flavor straight out of the late ’80s, and it’s exactly the type of thing that automatically triggers a huge grin on my face. His first EP for Dark Entries is graced by dystopian artwork by Detroit’s Alan Oldham, legendary for his sleeve and label art for labels like Transmat and Djax-Up-Beats as well as his own hard, stripped-down productions. “Puro” starts the record with a sinister peak-time prowler, which pauses for a moment to build suspense, then launches back at full force. “Acid Conversion 5” is simply a tough acid bath with pounding beats and sample commanding you to get on the floor and dance the night away. “Distant Past, Still In The Future” is tense, prickly techno which barrels through like a steam engine. “Craig’s Wee Sweet Shop” is a piece of hard candy with swirls of sugary rave synths. “Approach It Like A ’90s DnB Banger” isn’t what its title suggests, it has nothing to do with jungle/drum’n’bass, but it does have a lush, sparkling texture which counters the more biting, jacked-up synth pattern. “The Mouth From The South” is a smooth transition into Drexciyan electro — hard, racing beats but some of the calmer synth pads on the release. All of these tracks are strictly club material, riding for a certain amount of bars before switching to another pattern, and keeping the energy at the appropriate level.