Put on headphones for this one, even if you’re standing, even if you’re in the middle of traffic or operating heavy machinery or wrecking balls or giant cranes dropping pylons into bedrock. Escandon by Rico Casazza is a phenomenal EP, of rich techno and electro drunk on pure ether. It doesn’t take much — 30 seconds, maybe 60 if you’re in a mood — to get yourself high and let your mind race on these five tracks drenched in cool midnight hues and searing, warping heat. The pretzel-shaped bassline on “Backstage Segment” is worth the price of admission to the show. Despite the temptation of just blowing this up with crashes, builds, drops and stock effects, Casazza wisely holds back and lets the keys, kicks and a serpentine groove slowly infiltrate body and mind. “Escandon” is built around a mysterious R&B vocal clip, a soft exhale of air and chords that shake and shiver.
Escandon is split roughly in half, with the tempo and frenzy building as it plays. After the warmth and slow embrace of the first half, a sensory riot erupts on “Seven Days,” a frenzy seizes “Word Fail Someone” and “Twozerofour.” Just a beautiful EP, music that’s not from Detroit but could have originated there, inspired by the plunging depths of Drexciya and Aux 88’s battery-pitched fever dreams.
Rico Casazza: Escandon EP (Perimeter Junk / Digital)
1. Rico Casazza: Backstage Segment (04:51)
2. Rico Casazza: Escandon (03:49)
3. Rico Casazza: Seven Days (04:16)
4. Rico Casazza: Twozerofour (05:28)
5. Rico Casazza: Words Fail Someone (03:59)
⚪️ Disclosure Statement: This record was submitted as a promo.
