Limited first pressing with full sleeve art.
Front cover by Mikołaj Moskal.
Mastered by Stephen Bishop.
Polish resident Lutto Lento follows up his debut 12” for Charles Drakeford’s ‘FTD’ label with this 6 track EP ‘Whips’ for ‘Where To Now?’ Records.
Lutto’s sound places him as quite a unique figure in modern electronic music, showing a fearless work ethic in shrouding his productions in saturated tape loops, and achieving what is certainly a low-fi quality to his sound, Lutto manages to never let this lo-fi edge take centre stage - instead this expertly crafted process of tape cutting and looping provides the backdrop to Lutto’s exuberantly crafted yet absolutely dance floor orientated drum work.
‘Marabut’ & ‘Vengo’ pair similar 2 note drones with dissimilar intricate rhythmic backings. On ‘Marabut’ the church organ like chords quake over layers of metallic percussion hits, hissing hi hats and clattering cymbals whilst ‘Vengo's drums have far more of a low swung swagger, where sweet string melodies with eerie atonal elements help draw you deep into the loops… when something rattles too-close to your ear and the aura of the track switches up to become a chilling experience.
‘Whips’ whirls us away from the spook of ‘Vengo’ into an ecstasy-induced autobahn fever dream, careering down a PS2 animated, neon delineated racetrack with the radio pelting soothingly lucid disembodied vocals that drift the vehicle of your consciousness from lane to lane. ‘Whips’ is perhaps the most visceral of productions here, where Lutto’s use of the layered sounds of crashing cars create’s a unique and twisted combination of both euphoria and destruction.
‘Amarena' is the most febrile piece, operating on a more guttural and obvious dancefloor level, a downcast mutation of the same feeling that drives you to whip out Dance Mania records at 5am. A beat that draws you to the offbeat and keeps you poised amid barked vocals and booming kicks.
‘Outro’ perhaps serves to encompass all that Lutto is about, where frantic tape cuts simmer over a hazy world of cosmic Laraaji esque experiments and beat work, and a vocal sample that perhaps nods towards Lutto’s use of found sound and manipulation to aid his musical vision, it laments “I live on an island… it is usually very warm… sometimes we go on picnics…and eat fruits and vegetables from our garden…mmmm…mmmmm”.