***** Serti – Extrovert From Outside, Introvert Inside (Fied FIED001 – 2023)

‘Create something, steal nothing’ is a slogan of Stef Geerlings aka Serti, and he really means it. Techno producer from Amsterdam, who describes his style ‘weird soundscapes and clumsy kicks and basslines’, has completed a vital release. Though not a newcomer – “Bipolar Girl” (2021) can be found on Serti’s Bandcamp site – “Extrovert from Outside, Introvert Inside” places Serti in a favorable position to reach for techno’s album debut of the year.

In a way, Serti squats in techno’s old-time structures, though with a fresh stance, sounding raw and intense like fellow Dutch wunderkind Tuning Circuits back in the days. Easy to think that during the production process, Serti may have been exposed to voluntary and lengthy isolation, free from the musical clichés of our time.

Crunchy and hypnotic opener “Everyone In Their Underpants” is born for soundtracking a masquerade of freaks, while mechanical convulsions of the title track and “Evil Backwards” come close to Bunker’s psychotic sleaze. Several tracks (“Fied”, “12 Till 6 Thief”) easily breach the 140 BPM threshold, to board of a van full of Spiral Tribe fumes. My favorite is scorching über-techno “Sticky Corners”, a gift to the altar of holy strobes with creepy samples and rave bells. Abstract leaning broken rhythms (“Micro”) and twisted floor friend “Brown Leaf” round up the release.

Buy digital from Juno Download (UK)

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