"After records from Sangue de Cristo and label founders Photonz, Lisbon's One Eyed Jacks imprint turns to another Portuguese producer, Pal +, who makes a rather astonishingly assured debut. "The Forest" is engrossing from the get-go, with a tough, syncopated chug that sounds like Marcel Dettmann gone reggaeton. That alone would have made a perfectly serviceable drum tool, but Pal + doesn't stop there. Over the top, he layers a great, shimmering arc of a synthesizer melody, with long, sustained notes ringing against softly stabbing chords. If you listen closely, there are even birdcalls deep in the mix, adding subliminally to the track's wide-open sense of space.
The brooding "Inside" is darker and grittier, with cheap-sounding synths staking out a position smack dab between Chicago house and London grime. Again, there's a lurching sense of swing to the groove that seems to be a hallmark of Portugal's bass producers right now. Remixing "The Forest," Berlin's Snuff Crew suck virtually all of the melody on the track, concentrating on a relentless, jacking drum-machine jam—a rigid, staccato rager so airless it feels almost vacuum packed."
4/5 Resident Advisor review by Phillip Sherburne
DJ support by Justin Robertson, Bok Bok, Perc, Phillip Sherburne, DJ Kaos, Cardopusher, Dan Avery, Auntie Flo, Ghosts On Tape, Matt Walsh, Jon Rust, ZNTN and more.
credits
released June 4, 2012
Writted & produced by Fernando Silva
Remix on B side by Snuff Crew
Artwork by Márcio Matos
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