GHOST303 - Mapping a Messiah EP

The recently relaunched BXR label continues to soundtrack the future with a new EP from diverse and multi-disciplinary artist Ghost303.

Ghost303 is a name that you might not immediately know, but rest assured this Bulgarian creative has excelled not only as a music producer but also as a sculptor, visual artist and painter, and has exhibited his works around the world. Since 2000, he has made music under multiple monikers (and as part of groups like The Third Man and Underhill touching on everything from d&b to Balkan jazz and theatre soundtracks) but this is his first foray into techno. It finds him fusing classic Roland TR-303 lines with hypnotic drums and off kilter effects to create an original and engaging EP of floor focused techno. 

First up is the grinding and raw stomper ‘Aesthet X’. With its churning drums and squelching synths it is a dark and dystopian bit of techno for big warehouse spaces. Textured and dynamic throughout, it’s a real brain frying track. The heavyweight ‘Focault’ then performs macho techno gymnastics for seven minutes, with smooth sweeping synths off-set by more coarse claps as the whole thing wraps you up in post-apocalyptic sound. 

The slick title track is a journeying techno groove with haunting pads and sirens way off in the distance. The whole thing feels lonely and urban and full of late night menace. Things get wild again with the wonderfully wonky ‘Punish1970’, which is a six minute freakout with a prying, tightly looped synth melting your mind as industrial percussive sounds and dark vocals add to the intensity. Last of all is the excellent ‘Order of Things’, another edgy and unsettling techno tune that gets you on your toes with its suspenseful pads and fizzing stabs. 

This is high octane, high impact techno designed to disorientate dance floors, and it does so with real style.

Tracklist:

1.    Aesthet X
2.    Focault
3.    Mapping A Messiah
4.    Punish 1970
5.    Order of Things