Ronan Fitzgerald: Steadycam releases another massive sounding record on K2, after the excellent “Knock Kneed.” His bizarre style, faintly retro, but not pillaging from the same eras as everyone else, continues to bear dark techno fruit. “Kidney Issues” is probably his most accessible track to date, brutally simple glam-house. The title cut is more similar to the minimal techno of his previous releases, with the trademark dry and heavy sounding Steadycam snare riding over some lush 303 and keyboards that would probably sound more at home on Kompakt proper rather than K2.

Cameron Macdonald: Please don’t mistake the title track for Italo-disco. Consider it the soundtrack to an after-school TV special for when the troubled teen protagonist cannot decide between suicide, dope, calling his ex- and then hanging up, or hiding in a fort built out of couch cushions. On the flip, “Kidney Issues” fits well with Kompakt’s reputation for minimal techno hypnosis, Steadycam autopilots a ceiling fan-chug of a rhythm on his electro-synth and trots on a steady, up-tempo stomp. Its droning, locked-groove could have veered off-road and into a cornfield just to keep the music interesting, but it’s better than hiding beneath a pile of cushions.

K2 / K2/14
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