Luca Lozano heads into the basement for four cuts of machine-driven house, rave mutations, fidgety electronics and raw acid on Phonica Records.
Klasse Wrecks boss Luca Lozano lands on Phonica Records with “Da Vinci”, a four-track EP that digs through several corners of UK club music while keeping Lozano’s characteristically rough-edged production firmly at its centre.
It’s a pairing that makes plenty of sense. Phonica has long supported Lozano’s records through its Soho store, while the Berlin-based producer, DJ, designer and Klasse Wrecks co-founder has spent years operating in that fertile space between house, breaks, rave and the stranger reaches of electronic music.
The story behind “Da Vinci” is equally appealing. The four tracks were put together across sessions in what Lozano describes as a “dank basement studio”, using a mixture of old hardware, drum machines and samples collected over the years.
“The Magnificent” gets things moving with an energetic, machine-driven groove. Arpeggiated basslines roll beneath crisp drums while dazzling synth leads continually push their way to the surface. Both this and “Delta Force” make use of an old Korg Delta synthesizer Lozano had acquired at the time, a late-’70s machine he spent considerable effort getting to communicate with his more modern equipment.
“Delta Force” is the rawer proposition of the pair and arguably where things really start getting interesting. A peak-time growler with definite nods towards early breakbeat rave, its twisted, mutated vocal sounds and chopped female ad-libs sit beneath evolving synth lines and tough drums. There’s something deliberately unruly about it, the kind of record that sounds increasingly unhinged the louder it’s played.
“Eau De Dave” takes another turn. Lozano describes it as a cheeky homage to a UK production legend whose older work he’d been revisiting, sending him back towards the fidget sound for a bit of fun.
And fidgety it certainly is. Nervous, restless and built around a clever sample that gives the track much of its dancefloor power, whirring synths eventually give way to more delicate electronic passages before everything slams straight back into the head-down groove. There’s a tension running through this one that we particularly like.
Closing track “Crunchy Nut” reaches even further back towards early UK tech house and acid. It’s an all-out attack of bleeps, blips and squelching basslines over a deliberately raw 4/4 drum pattern, complete with the slap bass Lozano had apparently been waiting for an opportunity to work into one of his productions.
Across four tracks, “Da Vinci” feels less concerned with recreating a particular period than rummaging through several of them. Early tech house, acid, breakbeat rave and fidget all find their way into the machinery, but Lozano twists those influences into something suitably grubby and contemporary.
Four very different club tools, held together by old machines, old samples and the sort of basement experimentation that doesn’t sound particularly interested in playing things safe.
TRACKLIST
1. The Magnificent
2. Delta Force
3. Eau De Dave
4. Crunchy Nut
Artist: Luca Lozano
Title: Da Vinci
Label: Phonica Records
Format: Vinyl / Digital, buy it here.