- Active since 1998 but managing to maintain a nearly invisible profile since then, Docile Recordings is one of Detroit’s best kept secrets. Unleashing a steady stream of untitled minimal DJ tools, Andy Garcia (one of Docile’s main players, along with frequent collaborator David Wulle) works in short up-tempo bursts, keeping things tighter than a drum and twice as funky.
The four tracks on the latest missive—the imprint’s first since late 2005—find Garcia in fine form; he works staccato bursts and bleeps back and forth over deep rocking bass swerves and clipped, steady beats on the A side’s two cuts, each a variation on the other’s themes, conjuring the early Warp sound minus the pop-chart sensibilities. B1 rocks clip-clop percussion with some skronky bass squirts and a riff that sounds vaguely like something from an Atari 2600. B2 has what sounds like some seriously distorted string swoops over a snappy snare that pops like classic Relief material.
All four cuts work in the same tempo and general style, but stand distinct from each other and, really, from anything else out there. Sure, these are tools to the core, but the tracks are interesting enough to stand up to repeated plays for those of the proper mindset. Enterprising DJs looking to add something new to their crates could do far worse than sprinkling some Docile releases in.
TracklistA1 Untitled
A2 Untitled
B1 Untitled
B2 Untitled