- In terms of releases, Duckett has kept pretty quiet. The Freerotation resident hadn't put out a record between 2007 and this summer, when UntilMyHeartStops let two of them loose in quick succession. As the names suggest, Part 1 and Part 2—subtitled Coffee, Women And Skits and Waiting For Weather respectively—work as two halves of a whole, drawing out a nuanced sound on the edge of house, techno, ambient and experimental music. The tracks feel warm and familiar, even if they don't sound like all that much out there.
Part 1 is marked by tension. On "Crappop," the synths make toasty analog buzzes, but the chords they carry are dissonant and sustained for uncomfortable stretches, while drums shuffle aimlessly and the bass climbs up and down an uncertain scale. "Blackbody Radiation" is too slow to be proper techno yet too bleak to be much else, its incessant drumming and muffled melody evoking a low-flying helicopter circling your neighborhood. The oppressiveness lifts on "Valentines Day Is For Animals," where bubbly percussion pushes through ecstatic shimmers of ambience. Duckett then folds back in on himself for "Naked And Fearless," though there's playfulness in his paranoia—his half-step rhythm shuffles perfectly, and his synth melody, distorting and flanging in slow-motion over the course of the track, hits all the right notes.
Duckett saved the best for last, though. From the off, Part 2 is brasher, nervier and more assured, with an even broader range than Part 1. The twirl of synths on "Ewloe Drive" draws you up, but the churning bassline pulls you down; hearing it loud is like watching your last breaths bubble toward the light as you sink to the bottom of the ocean. "Cobwebs And Waiters" invokes jazz, sort of: Duckett drops syncopated Rhodes chords between loose drum hits while a pitchy synth-stab blinks like a short-circuiting beacon. "Nervous In Regard To Waking Up" recalls Joey Anderson in its low-pitched, wriggly melody and spaced-out sound design, but the restraint is uniquely Duckett's. The EP closes out with "Are Things OK At Home," where the sound this producer has spent two 12-inches building seems to evaporate. Here's hoping it fades into being again very soon.
TracklistPart 1 (Coffee, Women And Skits)
A1 Crappop
A2 Blackbody Radiation
B1 Valentines Day Is For Animals
B2 Naked And Fearless
Part 2 (Waiting For Weather)
A1 Ewloe Drive
A2 Cobwebs And Waiters
B1 Nervous In Regard To Waking Up
B2 Are Things OK At Home