Echoes

by Jason BirchmeierQuite a departure from his earlier hard techno productions for Tresor and unGleich as DisX3 and Double X, Berlin producer Alexander Kowalski's debut full-length finds him producing mostly dark dub-house. The tracks chug along at a nice and steady pace with monstrous dub basslines propelling the rhythms and lots of tweaked, high-end sounds filling in the gaps. Perfect for the dancefloor yet laid-back enough for home listening, Echoes is an impressive debut effort by the young producer, who shows that he's just as capable of producing house as he is techno without forsaking any of his trademark murkiness. Yet as impressive as this album is, it's rather one-sided, particularly relative to his second full-length that would follow a year later, Progress.