This 5-track EP is the cream and essence of 3dTorus’s techno directed releases so far. All tracks were produced in the first 2 weeks of January 2015 and it’s described by 3dTorus as “Reduced, pattern-based and minimalistic, yet dubby, simple and plain repetition at its best and a loving goodbye to Ableton Live”.
This is a great collection of songs, a solid techno sound with excellent layering and great arrangements. The kick drum is driving against more layered percussive sounds and there are some excellent synth sounds and background effects too. There’s quite a minimal use of sounds but these are used to great effect in the production of the songs.
Monotonous Miscellany I This song has a driving kick rhythm with a great synth sound. The song evolves more of a percussive rhythm with a great (bitcrushed?) bass sound. There are some excellent sound effects too, great layering and production – a solid techno sound.
Monotonous Miscellany II A driving kick rhythm again, the synth has more of a stab sound. There are great sound effects and the song again evolves a more defined percussive rhythm and bassline. Excellent layering of sounds creates a great contrast between the different elements and a great movement in the sounds. There are nice changes of feel too and the production again is excellent.
Monotonous Miscellany III This song has a different feel, bass has a pulsing, driving feel against a percussive rhythm which has more of a triplet feel to the kick at times. The synth has great use of delay and dub sound. Really nice change in percussion sounds and rhythm.
Monotonous Miscellany IV This song has a driving kick to open against a synth with a great wah / phaser effect. The percussion builds gradually to great effect. There’s a really nice variation in synth sound too, it has gnarly or growly qualities at times, at other times it’s more subtle and others has a great acid type sound.
Monotonous Miscellany V Great percussive opening against a ‘dark’ synth sound and great background effects too. This song has a darker edge and there’s great layering of percussion again. I really like the movement in the synth sound which creates a great tension contrasting really well against other elements of the song.
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