The launch of Berlin based imprint SPE:C is inaugurated with the release of Begyndelsen EP by Decka.
Hailing from Bristol, the young lad has garnered notable support from BBC Radio 1’s B.Traits, Daniel Avery and Ben UFO, alongside courting an unrelenting 1 hour Solid Steel Mix.
Title track Begyndelsen has a wavering narrative of peaks and troughs founded upon an ability to grow in intensity as quickly as it does fall. This is all undermined by a gravelly bassdrum, haunting soundscape, and coarse arpeggio which sounds like something from the 1995 video game Wipeout.
Escalation lends itself to that quintessentially UK techno sound reminiscent of a Livity Sound output. The coarse feedback loops that shower over the serrated synth stabs seem at first purely invasive but after 16 bars reassure you of this tracks inherent melody. Jack uses reverb expertly to create wide space in the mix, and after a halting break 2 ½ minutes in, a fantastic array of distorted subs and obsessive automation hits you hard from the tracks departure knocking you off your balance.
002 draws on elements of a Matrixxman or Truss output, grafting crunchy high end percussion over the top of that archetypal futuristic sawtooth synth that appears in much of this EP. That lead synth throwing you back and forth with Its heavily panned delay and belligerent weightiness.
This is a release that shows years of maturity on a fresh faced Decka. I’m sure we are going to be hearing a lot more from this