Shake - Piper

Frictional

The blueprint has stayed the same throughout his career - skeletal snares, thudding bass and a sinewy melodic arrangement that can only have originated from him. Shake’s Frictional is one of the finest Detroit labels because it has been unyielding to fashion ever since he started it with “Live for Friction” back in 1995. That sound has come full circle now, with his unusual take on techno now sounding even more futuristic in light of the genre osmotically mutating with dubstep. 

Lead track “Piper” is barrio-influenced bass and rhythm, but Shake fans and devotees will love “So Delivered” with its trademark strings and lush arrangements, whilst “Millenium Blues” is a hefty dose of curdled hip-hop. It is difficult to think of someone in techno so outside the normal conventions who continues to produce such idiosyncratic and yet influential arrangements. Long live Shake.

Toby Frith

Buy at Clone