Klint - Dynamo EP
The ARTS imprint has made a name for itself not only by prolifically releasing quality techno but also by being a label that intends to push the boat further and further into the sea of bizarre. While it's easy to get lost in the sauce with the number of sublabels ARTS utilise to further categorise the impressive amount of music, one motto stands true: label-head Emmanuel once titled a track 'All Killer, No Filler,' and ARTS sticks to that motto like bubble gum to hair. The music is high-octane, direct, and powerful, but noticeably non-self-serious.
Klint is a new name to the roster, but his proficiency and eccentricity complement the rest of the back catalogue well, while also delivering something fresh. The title track 'Dynamo' is a plonky and awkward tune that feels like an unashamedly weird way to kick off your career on ARTS. Still, it highlights the ARTS ethos and ever-shifting framework: try something new or take something old and give it a new spin. Take, for example, 'Subculture' where Klint demonstrates an affiliation with dub techno. His incorporation of a classic Rhode-esque chord doesn't seem like reinventing the wheel, only this time, extrapolating the sound and having it play dry, effectless, over a perpetually increasing page, the atmospheric pad underneath.
One of the most gripping moments on the EP comes when 'Time Flies' fully gets into its groove. The track takes cues from electronic music minimalists, like Villalobos or Maurizio, but most closely resembles Craig Richard's lorded foray into production with 2018’s ‘My friend is losing his mind'. Scattered samples of synths and augmented vocals cascade around the listener, as if some odd creatures are communicating to each other through an echoing cave.
If these adventures into Wonderland prove too psychoactive and you fancy something a bit more streamlined, to the point and pumping, look towards 'Supernova' with its nods to 90s techno. Pulsating kick and bass, chaotic hats, and a vibey vocal loop are the hallmarks of this one. Klint also incorporates his modernist weirdness through vocalised percussion, which ends up giving us a strange shifting call-and-response effect. The same is true for the track 'Reflex'; both tracks maintain a hazy grittiness reminiscent of the field straight out of the 1990s, while upgrading the production quality.
Klint's detail-rich sound is persistent. Percussively, Klint mixes things up, giving you more to unpack with every listen. The Frenchman dynamically shifts between huge techno rumbles and more euro-centric baselines, adding character but also allowing him to stand out. Klint's Dynamo EP is clearly warehouse music, but it's on the edge of left-field, not suitable for the superclubs. Still, I can see a coat like the following for this kind of high-intensity nonsense.
Tracklist:
Dynamo
Subculture
Time Flies
Supernova
Reflex
Label: ARTS (2025)
Klint - Dynamo EP
