JUNO single of the week July 2023 - Review
While his enduring influence on wonky, gnarly techno remains an unshakeable association, Neil Landstrumm’s more than demonstrated his flexibility to turn his machines to other outlets. Since laying waste to Planet Mu with some outstanding hybridised dubstep LPs in the late 00s it’s been a thrill to see him stretch out into Italo, electro and more. What the brutalist end of his techno output sometimes shrouded was the dope flamboyance in his approach, and it was totally applicable to other sounds. His live sets help prove this point as he deftly jockeys his gear from jackhammer 4/4 to slippery bassweight gear and back again without missing a beat.
Hearing Landstrumm arrive on Swamp81 speaks to the clout he carries within the field formerly known as dubstep, and you can hear snatches of Minimoo tipped towards explicit soundsystem tropes. ‘Spiral’ rides a daggering square wave bass and swung beat which calls to mind early days of DMZ and in particular Loefah’s approach, while the extended run time and relatively looped up, linear submission of the track is more heads down than Landstrumm typically gets.
Elsewhere though, Landstrumm is just doing his own thing, laying down low-slung Miami bass flavours on ‘Loveya’ and looping Nina Simone into infinity on the spicier sister track ‘Luvya’. ‘Aintgotnojob’ takes a sideways slant on footwork and pulls it off brilliantly, not least with the wobbly chord drop around the mid-section.
But it’s ‘Minimoo’ which takes the cake as a demonstration of Landstrumm teasing his ability to craft a hit when he feels like it. It’s catchy as hell and gnarly with it, bringing the slickest moves out of Landstrumm’s arsenal without diluting his wayward spirit.