Iron Curtis/Ultrademon
Shift 002 Split EP
[Midnight Shift]
Midnight Shift’s second release sees two extremely talented artists, Iron Curtis and Ultrademon step outside their comfort zones and deliver a great four-tracker (two tracks each) of music one wouldn’t expect from them.
Never Give Up sees Iron Curtis move away from his chunky, low-slung, deep house sound into entirely more upbeat, quirky territory. A minimal four-to-the-floor percussive rhythm leaves plenty of breathing room for the abundance of musical elements in the track, including a bouncy TB-303 bassline, constantly-evolving filtered pads and chords, and some great cut-up vocal samples. There’s a certain cheeky funk that hasn’t previously existed in Curtis’ usually more emotional deep house, and it’s a really pleasant change of direction.
For his second track, Iron Curtis reworks Never Give Up into “The Chant” version, which leans slightly more towards his more well-known sound, but still injects a variety of new feelings and textures into it. The 303 is made more prominent and menacing, contrasting nicely with the ethereal sound effects and washes, clangy percussion and occasional appearance of the original version’s synths (albeit warped and downtuned).
Ultrademon writes possibly the most straightforward pieces of music he’s ever done with Bend and Goonchie Blunch, but there is still enough weird, off-the-wall experimentation to keep fans of his sound happy. Bend is a simple – but extremely effective – house/techno/electronica crossover, kind of in the vein of Nathan Fake and James Holden, but less melancholic and more uplifting. Relying solely on a simple kick-snare pattern for its percussion, where the track really shines is in its wackily oscillating main synth line. The lead, a simple pattern of sixteenths which loops over and over in a kind of charming repetitiveness, constantly has effects applied to it, often warping it into something that sounds entirely different. A great example of doing a lot with a little.
Goonchie Blunch is reminiscent of the mid-2000s techy prog sound: dark and brooding for a while before catching you off guard when it explodes into its peak. Starting out with just a tight, clicky kick drum and a subtle bassline wobble, the track throws in slamming tribal drums out of nowhere as the bassline rises up into a gritty, resonated growl. And if that’s not enough, there’s also the buzzing, waspy sawtooth synth that just doesn’t let up for most of the track, like an inescapable swarm of angry bees (but ones you’d be okay with letting them sting you).