While all the Hand On The Plow crew are scholars of techno, Spandex is the one who (when not in his off-beam Pleated Lemon guise) is truest to it sonically. That's not techno as in a dogmatic insistence on an all-overpowering mind-numbing four-to-the-floor kickdrum, or a rehashing of whatever combination of clicks and fizzing noises are currently de rigeur for scarf-knotting MNMLists, though. That's why connoisseurs' favourite Cristian Vogel has previously released Spandex on his Sleep Debt label and has mastered this EP. And it's why the three tracks here sound so radically different from one another, yet are all recognisably techno and recognisably Spandex. So the hefty kick and alienfunk vocal yelps and chants of the EP's title track, the rolling Underground Resistance electro rhythm and glassy, contemplative sounds of Fourth Wall, and the more chugging beat, vocal and disco-boogie synth eruptions on the 'New York Remix' of What's Wrong With You (from his previous HOTP release) each have as clear an identity in themselves as you could ask for, but all bubble with the spirit of true-school techno, and all unmistakably come from the same effervescent mind. And this is not worthy egg-heads' music, either: all the tracks have broad appeal. Bermuda Triangle, with its builds and drops, could be played by
adventurous breaks or electro DJs, 'Fourth Wall' reaches towards Rephlex territories, while the warm synths of 'What's Wrong With You' blend
perfectly into Italo and even deep house sets. Spandex makes techno as it was always meant to be: varied, instantly accessible, full of wit and fresh invention in every bar, and most importantly aimed at your braincells and your dancing trainers simultaneously.