Wibbly and wobbly, moody and motivated, Palcolor‘s newest release heaves with a purposeful sense of direction that takes its cue from the most determined of electronica while usually being prepared to step somewhere outside the safer zones of sequenced music.
Wróg can be propulsive techno and it is equally capable of edging into more atmospheric realms; wherever Emil Macherzyński takes his collection of vintage analogue gear, a certain dustiness comes along. Whether this is aided by the thumping warmth of the TR-606 is something that can be debated endlessly by techheads; whatever the cause, Palcolor’s music feels organic, often shimmers and is possessed of a pleasing weight and heft.
So the bloops and bleeps of opener “1987” give way to the lateral electronic dubs of “Bias Trap” and the smoother pastures of “Prima Terra” or “Pyongyang”, unfolding in low-end growls before a refulgent return to pumping grooves where the hi-hats and filter sweeps get to whirl time into a confusion of loops bouncing off each other into the void. “Kush Komfort” lets the sequencers rip, chundering and spizzling into a one-two techno rhythm that bristles with slow-burning fizz and a slapback counterpunch that allows the fade and buildup to rewind and chug again in longform — yet still dancefloor-friendly — style. Short and to the point, Wróg manages to pack in a satisfying amount of crunch and thump into its relatively short running time — thirty-five minutes could be considered an EP in some quarters, but that’s not an issue here, really. Even the final number “Retkinia Polnoc” seems to drift on far longer than its less than three-minute running time might suggest, flickering down into a scratchy spacedust ambience which just goes to show that Palcolor is quite capable of setting time to rights at pretty much any speed.-Freq1C-
