Featuring MAGIC MOUNTAIN HIGH

Fledgling Dutch imprint Off Minor Recordings bring in 2014 with a new release from the trio of Move D and Juju & Jordash, who are collaboratively known as Magic Mountain High.

The EP's aesthetic is closely aligned to MMH's previous material released through Workshop Records in the past year or two - rich analog sounds that straddle the line between house and techno, whilst rarely deviating from sub-aquatic deepness. The palette is often experimental, something clearly expressed in opening track 'Suub', where skittish percussion operates above a couple of distress-signal synth lines that loosen out across the track's four-minute length by their own free will.

Second track 'Riptide' takes a more conventional turn and the EP begins in earnest.  Here MMH put forward the kind of deep house that typifies their live performances as a warm bass groove is fleshed out patiently across almost ten minutes. Looping these grooves around far more traditional drum structures, 'Riptide' is as spaced-out and cosmic as you can get without straying from convention altogether.



The spacey vibe is continued on the flip, as 'Avalanche' picks up where the opener left off. Again, the rhythm here is volatile and unpredictable, bouncing sonically from place to place as a swirling wind rustles amongst it. In spite of the seemingly arbitrary nature of the track's percussion elements, there still exists beneath the bustle a definite sense of the kind of foot-tapping, head-nodding groove that you'd expect from Move D et al.

Finishing up is 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina (No Compromise Mix)'. MMH again take things down a notch. Gone are the clattering, tinny hats of 'Avalanche'. Instead, the group decide to end proceedings on a more serene tip. A bubbling, dubby bassline operates within the framework of iced-out, stalactitic drum notes that pierce through the kind of melancholic, whirr that featured on both 'Avalanche' and the EP's opening track.

Tiny Breadcrumbs EP - Magic Mountain High [Off Minor]

[OMR02] is available now via Juno, with 12" ar every bit as abstract as you'd expect from Mountain High.