2025 was many things – and very clearly the year of a pronounced dub and ambient techno revival. In this field, 2501 from the Netherlands delivers one of its strongest statements with Ulmeyda by returning to the genre’s core competencies. The cover shows little more than a porous grey gradient, fraying into white at the top and bottom. The music mirrors this restraint – no synaesthesia required. Where related releases sometimes circle themselves complacently, Ulmeyda never loses sight of the dancefloor.
Functional tracks with broken beat structures and crisp percussion such as »Dizzy« serve to build tension, sustaining anticipation for each new loop. At the album’s centre sits »Camellia (Version)«, its gravitational core, where everything converges: icy chords, silvery hi-hats, and a bassline that electrifies the moment it enters. Associations with Bandulu or Vainqueur – long-standing club heavyweights of the form – suggest themselves. 2501, too, manages the difficult balance between propulsion and aesthetics.
Across its eight tracks, the album consistently allows itself the time needed to develop an unexpected sense of shelter from a cool tonal palette. The virtuosic »Nothing«, for instance, begins as an abstracted jam before a straight kick finally breaks through its icy crust – with palpable effect. In 2501’s dub techno, it is not only the signature chords that dominate: equally defining is the unrestrained, inventive drumming, complete with all its productive disturbances.
Ulmeyda
