REVIEW: DJ Di’jital – ElectroHop1 (TRUST 34 – 2019)

Release date is in January 2019

Buy vinyl from Juno (UK)
Buy vinyl from Decks (DE)
Buy vinyl from Halcyon (US)

 

 

Electrohop won’t stop

Since the end of 2017, techno bass stronghold Direct Beat has been transmitting signs of life again, with much-anticipated reissues on its Classics offshoot. While tunes from the archives of Aux 88 and Posatronix have been great thing, new productions from the label posse are quite rare. Perhaps an exception is DJ Di’jital aka Lamont Norwood, who in mid-1990s debuted on Direct Beat and later appeared on another Detroit electro label Twilight 76. In addition to running own imprint Di’jital Axcess, he has been putting out new material on Libertine and Rawax, most recently the EP “Sound Wave Killer“.

Now DJ Di’jital has restored the connection between Vienna and Detroit when announcing a six-tracker for TRUST, a label that has previously hosted Gerard Ingram’s Stingray 313 and Urban Tribe projects. When DJ Di’jital opens analogue toolbox, his techno bass roots are sounding fresh in today’s context and passing years seem to be treating him well.

“Electrohop1” is a stripped down opener, while the first tones of the next one – “Jit To This” – don’t leave any doubts we have ‘jittery funk’ in a raunchy interpretation. The hip therapy goes on with electrifying “Input Main” and the exposure to “Gamma Radiation” is having a healing effect.

Raw machine soul “808 Kits” is filled with bubbling sequences and nocturnal gasps in “Entity (The Getdown)” round up a great session of minimalistic and bouncing robodance. Maybe it’s just homesickness for genuine Detroit techno bass, but DJ Di’jital’s crisp hydraulics will give a brilliant start to the year 2019.

Points: 9 of 10

Endnote: As told by Aux 88, new transmissions expected from Direct Beat posse, not only reissues.

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