The Spatial 10inch EP series reaches its third and most visceral installment yet with 90729 and 90807.
Spatial’s inaugural release on Infrasonics in late 2008 was enthusiastically welcomed by listeners, DJsand critics, as was its follow-up earlier this year, a reaction attributable to the producer’s instinctive fit with one of the prevailing moods in dubstep – in reclaiming the fluidity of 2-step garage and reappropriating dub-techno processes, these productions capably stand alongside those of Martyn or 2562. More than the execution of these satisfying tropes, though, their strength lies in a spooky attunement to the faint vibrations of a whole spectrum of dancefloor epiphanies, presenting in some ways a crisper, less melancholy counterpart to Burial, or even James Kirby’s projects as The Caretaker, but from the right side of the comedown. This latest collection of tracks, possibly Spatial’s most evocative, takes indirect inspiration from experience of the kind of ‘91-era Euro-rave documented in Warlock’s recent mix for FACT magazine. Removed as the comparison might seem given their wrought, contemporary sound, vestiges are detectable, such as the transmuted hoover basslines, hollow panic-synths and ectoplasmic vocal trails that at the peak of these tunes threaten to fill out Spatial’s characteristically airy, open-textured mix. Correspondingly, ‘90729′ and ‘90807′ all constitute conscious attempts to aim more squarely at the dancefloor, with success already coming in the form of DJ support from Untold, Incyde, T++, and Dubwar NYC resident Dave Q.