Sweat Equity’s Daniel Creahan dons a rubber mask as Alien D on an EP of rust belt techno tracks. Broadway Mid-Tempo Party Music is the kind of thing you’d read titling a KTel compilation full of Andrew Lloyd Webber delights (original songs performed by the original cast!) Here it serves as a useful marker for four tracks united by a theme of chipped yellowed keys, peeling pads and liberating the analog soundwaves spun around the machines’ wirewrapped guts.
On “Dream Burner,” Alien D makes music for an alien lab — rubbery synthetic waves snapping like electric bolts from a tesla coil. I imagine this track was sampled from the room tone of a cellar full of obsolete drum machines and circuit boards — little machines zapping small bits of current from leaky lithium batteries, ghosts in the machine triggering short breakbeat patterns in the dark. “Spicy Action” has some fun with steely percussion and a reverb tunnel. Alien D has a skill for blending euphoric passages with sinister undertones — “Party Glitters” has an ominous roar under a battery of breakbeats that sounds warm, comforting and nostalgic but also sounds like the 4 minute warning siren of imminent nuclear annihilation. The one-sheet talks about “blissed out techno breaks” and there’s that, and there’s a whole lot of other shit rattling around here too.
⚪️ Tracklisting
Alien D: Broadway Mid-Tempo Party Music (Fixed Rhythms / 12" Vinyl)
1. Alien D: Dream Burner (06:20)
2. Alien D: Spicy Action (04:51)
3. Alien D: Party Glitters (08:16)
4. Alien D: Sunrise Deli (05:40)
⚪️ Disclosure Statement
This record was submitted as a promo.
⚪️ Previous Coverage
⚪️ CMD makes dreamy dark techno on Social Factory Reset (2022)
⚪️ #TheTeardown Cratan / Decoder on the making of “Boulder” (2020)
⚪️ #ListenUp – Erika Glück Makes Wired, Raw Techno on Cosset (2019)
5 Mag Issue 206
Out Now
MOVE: This was originally published in 5 Mag Issue #206 featuring DJ, dancer, teacher and producer Coflo, Alland Byallo, Phil Kieran, DJ Rocca, Jeff Mills’ Metropolis Metropolis and more. Help keep our vibe alive and our shine bright by becoming a member for $2/month and get every issue in your inbox right away!
