SIGHA - RAWWW EP (HOTFLUSH)

Hotflush have rapidly built a startlingly solid reputation as exponents of some of the very finest, forward looking yet club focused electronic experimentalism. With Mount Kimbie’s challenging, deeply textured Sketch On Glass EP to the wildly popular post-Dubstep of Joy Orbison, not to mention label-boss Scuba’s deep, Berlin-esque take on dubstep, their output has gained the label fans all over the world and brought their particular music ethic to the forefront of a cornucopia of scenes. For their 10th release they’ve pushed out a pensive slab of tech-house and stripped down Dubstep from Medium mastermind and BM Soho specialist Sigha. 
A side Rawww is a slow building piece of thinking-man’s Tech-House which grows around stuttering filtered chords and attentively programmed beats, grooving through the quantisation, with a toasty, throbbing bassline wrapping the whole thing in a warm, resonant blanket.
B sides Hold Your Heart Up To The Light and Untitled #2 take things to a much deeper, atmospheric level. The former’s minimalist approach to Dubstep is naturalised by luscious flashes of synthesised sunlight breaking through the stark, understated beats and harmonising with the insistent growling bass to form a beautifully contemplative track just begging for a listen on headphones in a softly lit room. The latter’s mechanised, reverb-laden pounding is a seven minute ride of paranoia-inducing Techno laced with industrial, metalic stabs, uneasy reverb and bass so low you can feel it in your spinal column.
HTF10 provides a credible link to styles often simplified to the point of offensiveness, dragging in elements of Dubstep, Techno, House and latent Electronica to create forms impressive in their consistency and subversiveness. The next steps from both artist and record label are well worth keeping an eye on.

Words by Chris Lawes.