Marco Carola
Walking Dog
MINUS85 12?, WAV, MP3

It?s a relatively short trip from his normal residence on Plus 8 over to Minus and to mark the occasion Marco Carola has smuggled in a tantalising assortment of contraband. There are five tracks in total - a four-track vinyl EP supplemented by a digital exclusive - each carrying those archetypal percussion sequences and unmistakeable basslines that have become his trademark.

Straining at the leash, Walking Dog gets this latest instalment underway with a flurry of filtered deep space percussion. The urgent intro then changes tack, revealing the bassline - a complex double-layered pattern, slightly discordant but very expressive - that eventually levels out as the track solidifies. Immersed in the mix, staccato rhythms linger while occasional snare rolls and crashes punctuate the hypnotic groove. Carola?s ability to weave and stitch rhythms together really comes to the fore while the repetitive synth lines intertwine to give the track a feeling of weightlessness. Turn Around is another swaggering party stomper. The rhythm section builds lazily, evolving every 16 bars or so under the influence of more subsonic trickery. Complex rhythms gradually add fuel to the fire dominating the night sky like a cloud of bats circling and seducing the saturated bass.

Party People won?t win any prizes for most original title but the metronomic tribal groove seriously rocks. Some rough syncopated drum fills shock the track into life before the ?party people? sample fractures into the breakdown. Carola beds down another solid, low-slung groove that alternates between stealth and devastating bursts of energy. The melodic interplay at work as the percussion parts rebound back and forth between the speakers is also worth checking out. Electro flavours abound on You And Me as intricate metallic rhythms percolate behind more booming beats. All the while a bubbling caldron of bass dominates the shadows and just when it seems to have run its course, Carola pulls out a plucked string riff that gives the track a new pair of wings. Mischievous cuts and breaks allow the track to alternate between the darker bass/snare driven sections and the faster percussion lead sequences while the guitar riff drop in and out to great effect.

The Move is the digital only inclusion on this EP. Another winning bass signal is supported by a raucous, uncompromising tech house groove that includes some intricate rhythm programming, that familiar off-beat ska flavour and a warped old school bass section that pumps up the pressure, rounding off another top drawer collection in style.