It’s that time of year again where Current Value and Blackout come through and start blowing everyone out of the water, but rarely do these two powerhouses team up and do it together. Current Value’s newest EP Time Gap is due out on Monday on Blackout, so prepare for the double blow.
Despite our cheeky title and everyone knowing CV’s penchant for glitchy drone stuff, there are also some more dancefloor-heavy neuro tracks on Time Gap. “Bolide,” for example, is technically a jump up track, from a beat perspective (on’t worry, there’s still lots of old school distortion in the bassline and a high-pitched synth that should come with a seizure warning).
Everything on this EP is crunchy and grindy, taking a big nod back to old school tech-and-darkstep but of course it’s blown out even more by Mr. Value’s insane production, syncopation arrangement and sound design. These sounds may be familiar but they’re also completely new and different. “Deadspot” goes really deep into those crunchy bass synths while the title track pairs them with a nice bit of melodic vocal, a’la “That Smile.”
Our premiere today is the last track on Time Gap, called “Operator.” It’s the most ravey of all the tracks on the EP, with a melodic, echoey synth intro that belies the heavy madness that lies ahead. This one will remind fans even more of “That Smile” with its big, fat drone synth launching itself like a car rocket through every phrase transition in the track. Listen a little closer, however, and it’s clear that those chunky, crunchy bass sounds are very much present as in the other three tracks.
Those crunchy, feedback-laden bass is what Current Value has really been playing with sound design-wise this time around, and of course he’s once again nailed a sound no one else has come up with before. He puts it in all different configurations throughout Time Gap and it makes the EP a unique, stand-out work in itself, rather than just being about the tracks. That said, the dancefloor won’t be likely to sleep on this EP; not that it ever does on Current Value.
Time Gap drops on Monday, July 6. Click here to pre-order or pre-save
