Arbiter EP – Emerald 30

Forum aka Remco Beekwilder’s ‘Arbiter’ lands on Rotterdam’s Emerald label as a dispute-settling study in repetition, adding another 12″ to the long string of collagistic grotesques making up the label’s main EP covers series The Dutch imprint built its name on hardgroove-adjacent techno, again case-in-pointed by the likes of ‘Angel Magic’ and ‘Warped Space’ here, tracks assuming a piercing posture and stride between meditative factory mettle and gulping impact. ‘Buga Sphere’ and ‘Alteron’ are further examples, strafing forth through simple repetitions and sixteen-bar let-ups before the bass burrows back into our ears again.