Madagascar, a remote island in warm oceanic waters where aye-ayes are cozily hiding in tree branches. It might be a perfect setting for a “Chill Out in the Paradise” soundtrack but Tuomas Rantanen, a student of philosophy from Tampere, Finland, believes in the opposite, in hidden magic and darker undercurrents.
“Morning in Madagascar” is a rude wake-up call from techno’s bloodthirsty side where the origins of violent bass tap into the assaults launched recently by labels like Pennyroyal or Perc Trax. Starting as well with a dark ambient intro, “Day in Madagascar” does not allow any rest either when it’s pounding through to the end of the A-side.
The closed circuit continues in the “Evening in Madagascar”, which retains the same hard-line industrial techno approach before signs of fatigue emerge during the night-track with more constrained BPM rate and varied textures intertwined with the murmurs of natives. This is beat music, shamefully in digital format only.