Pangaea

This is the debut entry in a proposed series by Pangaea (aka Kevin McAuley) released through a new, correspondingly titled label, Hadal. Hadal refers to the bottom of the deepest parts of the ocean, which evokes an immediate sense of the trio of songs that comprise Viaduct. Pangaea's latest EP is representative of McAuley's maturing creative intuitions, as his music retains the scattered, but informed influence of underground and UK sound system-referencing hybridity. The touchstones of post-millennial dance music — genre cross-pollination, formidable low-end and assured rhythmic core — are essential rather than referential within Viaduct's sonic makeup. Viaduct harkens to a time not long ago when most underground producers were laptop warriors, rather than hardware fiends, while the beating drums in "Razz" and abstract banger "Viaduct" suggest that keeping with the old ways (laptop production, for Pangaea) is preferable. Hints of warehouse techno effectively anchor wild-eyed hardcore as Pangaea renders another brief, enticing glimpse of the future before it ends almost as soon as it started.