Steady quarter kicks reign on Steve O’Sullivan’s work show slash compilation »Green Trax«. The bass drum throbs, sometimes more, sometimes less concretely, but always with dreamlike certainty. This is not only due to O’Sullivan’s fine beat programming, but also to pleasantly restrained melodies. The majority of the LP, which appears on Nina Kraviz’s Trip, takes place in the mids; there is no gimmicky bass or sawtooth leads. O’Sullivan released most of the tracks on his own label Green between 1995 and 1999, three previously unreleased numbers should make the purchase easier. These too – like the fine opener »Vert« in the »Extended Mix« – are from the 20th century. But that doesn’t matter, after all, O’Sullivan’s mostly tooly, always dubby techno sounds so simple and timeless that the time stamp makes only limited sense in terms of music history. Examples? »Viridi« could just as well have come from DVS1’s tradition-conscious pen, »Grænn«, on the other hand, draws scratchy, expansive loops and has subtle points of contact with the deep techno of the decade, »Zelenyy« reveals its exoskeleton and rumbles like Retina.it. »Green Trax« offers a wide range of music – but with a coherent aesthetic, without any annoying pomposity, but with a great eye for detail, which easily predestines the LP for the record player at home. For those who have been longing for a proper dub techno revival for years, Steve O’Sullivan gives another reason for hope. And at the same time a highly enlightening odyssey into techno history.
Green Trax
